Vortrag Prof. Likens

Inland waters are impacted by all component of human-accelerated environmental change, and there is a clear and urgent need to resolve the conflicts of use and abuse of aquatic ecosystems within the context of our planet’s finite aquatic resources. For example, eutrophication and acidification continue to degrade both standing and running waters, and land use changes and global climate change are adding even greater stresses on freshwater resources. Serious water shortage and water quality problems have occurred in many areas around the world. And, there are new water problems on the horizon, including impacts from mountaintop mining and contamination by antibiotics, steroids, hormones, other pharmaceuticals and nanoparticles, all exacerbated by rapidly increasing human demands on the resource. Solving the world’s water needs represents one of human society’s most urgent problems. Long-term research and monitoring are critical components in the development of integrated, adaptive management of catchments when addressing these challenges. Prof. Dr. Gene E. Likens is Founding Director and President Emeritus of the Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York, and co-founder of the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study in New Hampshire, USA. He is member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society and a foreign member of the Swedish Academy of Science, the Royal Danish Academy of Science, and the Austrian Academy of Science. His research focuses on the ecology and biogeochemistry of forest and aquatic ecosystems, primarily through long term studies at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest. Amongst others, he holds an honorary degree of BOKU, Vienna; he is recipient of numerous awards, including the National Medal of Science, America’s highest science honour, the Australia Prize, and co-recipient of the Tyler Prize and the Blue Planet Prize. Prof. Dr. Likens has published 23 books and more than 550 scientific articles.