Shelley Arnott

Shelley Arnott is a Professor in the Department of Biology at Queen's University, affiliated with the Faculty of Arts and Science and the Beaty Water Research Centre. Her research focuses on aquatic ecology, particularly the impacts of human activities such as road salt pollution, invasive species (e.g., spiny water flea), climate change, and calcium decline on freshwater ecosystems. She employs field experiments, lab studies, and molecular tools to assess community responses to environmental stressors.

Dr. Arnott holds a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1998), an M.Sc. from Miami University (1992), and a B.Sc. from the University of Toronto (1988). Her work combines theoretical and applied ecology, with a strong emphasis on policy-relevant outcomes for conservation and management.

Research interests include road salt toxicity, invasive species dynamics, and the development of metabarcoding tools for biodiversity assessment. Her lab, based at Queen's University Biological Station, addresses urgent environmental challenges like freshwater salinization and ecosystem recovery from acidification.

Key contributions include demonstrating the ecological effects of road de-icers on zooplankton and bacterial communities, and evaluating strategies to mitigate invasive species spread via watercraft decontamination. Ongoing projects explore calcium decline impacts and global salinity trends in rivers.

Collaborations span academic and government institutions, with lab opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students in field ecology, experimental design, and data analysis.