Rebecca Sharitz

Rebecca R. Sharitz (1944-2018) was an emeritus professor at the University of Georgia who spent the majority of her career as a senior researcher in the UGA's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. Her research centered on wetlands and their ecological functions with a focus on river floodplains, swamp forests, and Carolina Bays.

Sharitz researched ecological processes in wetlands focusing predominantly on wetlands in the southeastern U.S. Specifically, regeneration was reduced after such events, such as with Taxodium distichum having reduced growth after hydrologic disruptions from dam alterations as well as reduced diversity in tree species of the Congaree Swamp due to hurricane damages.

During her time as a professor, she oversaw over 100 volunteers, 30 graduate students, and 13 postdoctoral fellows. National Wetlands Award in Science Research, Environmental Law Institute (2010) Committee Member, National Academy of Sciences Committee on Restoration of the Greater Everglades Ecosystem (1999) Meritorious Teaching Award, Association of Southeastern Biologists (1997) provides financial support to PhD candidates at the University of Georgia focused on ecology or plant biology.

Selected publications

De Steven, Diane, & Sharitz, Rebecca R. (1997). "Differential recovery of a deepwater swamp forest across a gradient of disturbance intensity". Wetlands. 17 (4): 476–484. doi.org/10.1007/BF03161513. Putz, Francis E., & Sharitz, Rebecca R. (1991). "Hurricane damage to old-growth forest in Congaree Swamp National Monument, South Carolina, U.S.A." Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 21 (12): 1765–1770. doi.org/10.1139/x91-244.