Mark E. Welch
		Assistant Professor
		Education B.S. Biology, The University of Tennessee M.S. Biology, The University of Tennessee Ph.D. Biology, Indiana University Postdoctoral Research Vanderbilt University
				Contact Information
		Statement of Research Interests		301 Harned Hall 662.325.7564 662.325.7939 Fax mark.welch@msstate.edu Lab Web Page
		My research combines quantitative models from population genomics theory with morphological and molecular data from natural and artificial populations of plants and animals. The goal is to address key questions regarding the evolution of adaptive traits, local adaptation and speciation. Current work has four distinct foci. Most active is collaboration with my postdoctoral advisor, Dave McCauley. We are studying the inheritance of variable mitochondrial and chloroplast populations within individuals of the plant species Silene vulgaris. This is interesting to us on several levels including a firmer understanding of patterns of inheritance for two of the three plant genomes. Another collaboration in is along anticipated study of the long-term evolutionary effects of population reduction and habitat fragmentation in the iguana species Cyclura carinata. This work is being conducted with Glenn Gerber at the Center for Research on Endangered Species (CRES), and Catherine Stephen at Utah Valley State College. I am also trying to gain an understanding of the underlying genetic architecture of adaptive traits. For this work I have been using sunflowers as a model system, and it may improve our understanding of evolution because it aims to determine whether populations of a species can develop complex adaptations to local conditions when gene flow is strong, and it may also contribute to a better understanding of speciation as a process.
		Selected Publications
		Welch, M.E., M.Z. Darnell, and D.E. McCauley, 2006. Variable populations within variable populations: quantifying mitochondrial heteroplasmy in natural populations of Silene vulgaris. Genetics: 829-837 Featured as Editor’s Choice in November 17, 2006 issue of Science
		Welch, M.E., G.P. Gerber, and S.K. Davis. 2004. The genetic structure of the Turks and Caicos rock iguana, Cyclura carinata carinata, and its implications for species conservation. In A. Alberts, R. Carter, W. Hayes and E. Martins, [Eds.] Iguanas: Biology and Conservation. University of California Press.
		Welch, M.E. and L.H. Rieseberg. 2002. Patterns of genetic variation suggest a single, ancient origin for the diploid hybrid species Helianthus paradoxus. Evolution 56: 2126-2137
		Welch, M.E. and L.H. Rieseberg. 2002. Habitat divergence between a homoploid hybrid sunflower species, Helianthus paradoxus (Asteraceae), and its progenitors. American Journal of Botany 89:472-478.
Department of Biological Sciences, Mississippi State University, 130 Harned Hall, Lee Blvd., Mississippi State, MS 39762