Joy Buswell Zedler (born 1943)[1] is an American ecologist and professor of botany at the University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW), holding the title of Aldo Leopold Chair of Restoration Ecology.
[3] She became an SDSU faculty member and joined activist Mike McCoy in preventing the Tijuana River Estuary from being developed into a marina.
[5] She served in this capacity for 18 years, launching studies into invasive species, including how native plants can defend their ecosystems.
[8] Zedler has said that the most immediate impact of wetland destruction—in which "most losses are due to drainage for agriculture"—is a lower denitrification rate, which may raise the level of nitrates in water over the amount safe for children and pregnant women.
[2] She has noted that even after wetland restoration efforts, much of the abundance and biodiversity cannot fully recover from damage.