User:Cbergeson/Rebecca Sharitz

Dr. Rebecca R. Sharitz (1944 August 10 - 2018 October 20) was a wetland ecologist and botanist whose research primarily focused on the wetland plant communities of the Southeastern United States, including on the vegetation of Carolina Bays, swamp and bottomland hardwood forests, the effects of disturbance on wetlands, and wetland conservation/restoration issues. She spent most of her career working at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, part of the University of Georgia.

Academic Background
Sharitz attended Roanoke College, where she received a BS in Biology in 1966. She went on to the University of North Carolina, where she received her Ph.D. in Botany and Ecology in 1970. In 1972, she joined the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory at the University of Georgia, where she spent most of her career. While there, she became a Professor Emerita in plant biology and an adjunct professor in the Odum School of Ecology. Within the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, she also led the Division of Wetland Ecology and Ecological Stewardship Program.

Sharitz also served various roles in relevant scientific societies, including as the first female treasurer the Ecological Society of America. Later she served as its National Vice President, President of the Association of Southeastern Biologists, and she held the position of Vice President and sat on the Board of Directors for the International Association for Ecology. She also served on the US Energy and Research Development Administration, US National Committee for the Man and The Biosphere Program, and the National Academy of Sciences.

Research
Sharitz authored/co-authored over 150 publications, including three books. Her main areas of research included wetland plant communities throughout the southeast such as the geographically isolated Carolina Bays, swamp and hardwood plant communities, vascular plant populations, and the effects of disturbance regimes on plant communities. She contributed some writing to the United States Atomic Energy Commission and her research helped create the foundation for the Clean Water Rule.

Wetland conservation/restoration
Her research in the Georgia Sandhills uncovered the existence of the state-listed species Chrysoma pauciflosculosa in one of her study sites, helping conservation efforts for the species through the identification of the population.

She viewed Carolina Bays as isolated wetlands vulnerable to protection-loss under the Clean Water Act, asserting that, due to their ecological importance, they should be protected.

Responses of wetlands to disturbance
Some of Sharitz's research involved the effect of environmental disturbances on wetland vegetation. This includes research on the effect of hurricanes on late-successional bottomland hardwood forests, such as the Congaree Swamp, and the long-term impacts to vegetation in a wetland forest frequently disturbed by hurricanes. She also researched anthropogenic disturbances to wetland plant communities, including those from nuclear reactor sites.

Personal
Rebecca Reyburn Sharitz was born on August 10, 1944. She grew up in Wytheville, Virginia. She passed away on October 20, 2018.

Legacy
In recognition of her contributions to the field of Ecology, her family started the Rebecca Reyburn Sharitz and Carl Byrne Hatfield Fellowship to provide support for doctoral students in Ecology or Plant Biology at the University of Georgia.

Her legacy will also live on in dozens of graduate students and volunteers that she trained and mentored and the textbooks and publications that will help others continue to learn.

List of Honors and Awards
Dr. Sharitz received several awards, including numerous research grants. Some of her most notable awards include:


 * Meritorious Teaching Award, Association of Southeastern Biologists, 1997
 * National Wetlands Award in Science Research, Environmental Law Institute, May 2010
 * Fellow of Society of Wetlands Scientists.
 * Order of the Cypress, 2007

Articles

 * "The ecology, restoration, and management of southeastern floodplain ecosystems: a synthesis"




 * "Wetland Communities"




 * "Old forests and endangered woodpeckers: old-growth in the southern Coastal Plain"


 * "Are lianas increasing in importance in temperate floodplain forests in the southeastern United States?"




 * "Carolina Bay Wetlands: Unique Habitats of the Southeastern United States"

Books

 * Ecology of Freshwater and Estuarine Wetlands