Renowned ecologist to give lecture

Gene Likens, a distinguished ecologist who discovered acid rain more than 40 years ago, will speak about one of his latest research projects – the impact of road salt on an alpine lake in New Hampshire – on Thursday, Oct. 23, at 4 p.m. in Room 130 of the Biology/Physics Building.

The lecture is part of Likens’ yearly two-week stay at UConn as a distinguished research professor (visiting) in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Likens will also meet for discussions with six groups of students during his stay.

For 43 years, Likens has studied the effects of road salt on Mirror Lake, near the base of the Hubbard Brook Valley in New Hampshire.

Likens is a distinguished senior scientist and founding director of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, N.Y., a center of highly cited ecological research.

His studies of Hubbard Brook have shown how land-use practices affect the functioning of the ecosystem. His work led to the discovery by his research team of acid rain caused by the combustion of fossil fuels.

A National Medal of Science winner, in 2003 Likens won the Blue Planet Prize for outstanding scientific research that helps to solve global environmental problems.