Rebecca Yahr is an American lichenologist who works at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in Scotland.
[2] She gained her doctorate from Duke University in 2004 for research into how the relationship between the fungi and algae within a lichen evolve over time.
[2] From 1991 until 1998 Yahr worked as a botanical research scientist, firstly for the California Native Plant Society and then at Archbold Biological Station in Florida, USA, where she began to be interested in lichens.
[2] Since 2020 she has been the co-chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Lichen Specialist Group.
[10] In October 2023 the Systematics Association invited Yahr to give the society's annual Founders Lecture.