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.
Graduate students
Elianna Fox
Prior to starting her Master's at VU, Ellie graduated from the University of Georgia with a BS in Marine Biology and worked as a lab manager at Jackson State University. Her master's research is focusing on drivers of fiddler crab distribution across the salt marsh platform and how fiddler crab density influences their ecosystem engineering function.
Laini Legere
Laini graduated with a BS in Biology from VU in 2024 with a focus on microbiology and bioinformatics. She then worked as research technician with zebrafish at Rutgers University before deciding to come back to pursue her MS. For her Master's research, Laini is examining the interaction of temperature and disease on oyster filtration and physiology.
Undergraduate students
Patrick Morin
Patrick is a senior 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 is conducting a senior thesis and his research focuses on the geographic variation in prevalence of trematode parasites in the Eastern mud snail and how parasitism affects foraging behavior.
Peyton Gibbs
Peyton is a junior 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. For her independent research, she is conducting laboratory experiments to determine the influence of visual and chemical cues from predators (blue crabs) on fiddler crab behavior.
Emily Brown
Emily is a senior in Biology at VU. After graduation, Emily is interested in attending veterinary school. In the lab, Emily is helping to data extract for a meta-analysis on edge effects and assisting with various lab projects including dissections of snails to assess parasite loads and preparing stable isotope samples.
Addie Arvidson
Addie is a junior in Comprehensive Sciences at VU. In the lab, Addie is assisting on a variety of projects including oyster filtration, snail parasitism, and fiddler crab behavior.
Ella Thomas
Ella is a sophomore in Biology at VU. This year, Ella is getting her feet wet learning about animal care and husbandry and assisting on multiple projects in the lab including oyster filtration and how parasites influence snail feeding behavior.