MEET THE TEAM

SHELBY L. ZIEGLER, Ph.D.
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Dr. Shelby Ziegler is an Assistant Professor of Ecology in the Biology Department at Villanova University. She completed her B.S. in Biology College of William and Mary and Ph.D. in Ecology at UNC Chapel Hill (UNC Institute of Marine Sciences). She is an ecologist conducting interdisciplinary research that investigates environmental variation and anthropogenic stressors on faunal communities in marine and aquatic systems. Her work spans across multiple levels of biological organization from cells and organisms to communities and ecosystems using a combination of field sampling, laboratory experiments, molecular techniques, satellite-derived data, and geospatial analysis to test questions related to the conservation of aquatic and marine systems.
Undergraduate students

Patrick Morin
Patrick is a third-year undergraduate student at Villanova University working towards a B.S. in Biology and a B.A. in Global Health with a focus on parasitology, epidemiology, and global health policy. Patrick’s research focuses on the prevalence of the parasite that causes Swimmer's itch, Austrobilharzia variglandis, in mud snail populations along the Delaware River. His work will examine the ecological factors that are associated with this parasite and aims to provide indicators for local public health systems to facilitate beach closures in areas with high parasite prevalence.

Hannah Fox
Hannah is a 3rd year student at Villanova majoring in Biology who was hoping to get her feet wet in the lab before she graduates in May. Hannah is conducting an experiment to determine how different levels of biodiversity affect filtration rates and overall water quality with the goal of informing restoration techniques. Next fall Hannah will be attending Wake Forest University to pursue a Master's in Healthcare Administration.

Peyton Gibbs
Peyton is a sophomore undergraduate student at Villanova University working towards a B.S in Biology. She began working in the lab in the Spring of 2025. Peyton is interested in understanding how multiple stressors such as temperature, pH and salinity interact to affect coastal ecosystems. Currently, she is conducting filtration experiments with a combination of clams and oysters to evaluate how increased biodiversity affects filtration rates and plans to manipulate different abiotic variables (temperature & salinity) to determine how they alter filtration capacity.

Julia Shatzer
Julia is a first-year undergraduate student at Villanova University working towards a B.S. in Biology and a B.A. in Spanish with an intend on pursuing a career in trauma surgery. She began working in the lab in the Spring of 2025 and will be assisting on a variety of projects involving parasites and filtration by shellfish. She will also be assisting with DNA extractions and qPCR to examine oyster pathogens.
JOIN US!
The Coastal Ecology and Conservation Lab at Villanova University
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We are recruiting Master's students to join the lab in Fall 2025
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We also welcome undergraduate students at Villanova with strong desire to learn more about coastal and estuarine ecology and gain experience in lab and field settings.
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Check out the Join Us page for more information.
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