|
Fields of study
Ecosystem ecology / aquatic biogeochemistry
Academic background
Dr. Kling received his Ph.D. degree from Duke University in 1988, and was a postdoctoral fellow at The Ecosystems Center of the Marine Biological Lab in Woods Hole from 1988-1991. He received a National Academy of Sciences Young Investigator Award in 1993, became a National Science Foundation Presidential Faculty Fellow in 1995, and was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1997.
Graduate students
Heather Adams, Sarah Barbrow, Jasmine Crumsey
Kling home page
News
Kling named Collegiate Professor
George W. Kling has been awarded the Robert G. Wetzel Collegiate Professorship by the U-M Board of Regents effective September 1, 2009.
Wetzel was a professor of biology at the University of Michigan from 1986 to 1990. According to Kling, he is probably the most well-known aquatic ecologist in the world. He published 23 books and over 400 journal articles. His textbook, “Limnology: Lake and River Ecosystems” is the classic treatise in the field.
“One special trait of Bob’s that I particularly admired was his commitment to supporting and encouraging young scientists in developing countries,” said Professor Kling. “Bob loved this university, and even after he left he visited many times in part because he had family in the area, but mainly to soak up the place and renew his feeling of being a part of our intellectual community. Much to our loss, Bob passed away in April 2005. In 1990, when I came to the university just one year after he left, I inherited his office and laboratory – I still think of Bob often as I sit at his old desk.”
Kling received his doctorate degree from Duke University in 1988 and was a postdoctoral fellow at The Ecosystems Center of the Marine Biological Lab in Woods Hole from 1988-1991. He was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1997. He received a National Academy of Sciences Young Investigator Award (1993), a National Science Foundation Presidential Faculty Fellowship (1995), the United Nations Sasakawa Award (2001) for his work on disaster reduction in tropical lakes, and the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography Ruth Patrick Award (2007) for applied work in aquatic sciences (2007).
He joined U-M in 1991 as a research scientist with the Center for Great Lakes and Aquatic Sciences and was a professor of biology for 12 years before he became professor of EEB. He is the associate chair of EEB’s graduate program. Kling studies ecosystem ecology and aquatic biogeochemistry.
The professorship, which is for a five-year renewable term, is one of the highest honors the college and the university can bestow upon an eminent member of the faculty.
African lake’s gases threaten millions, reports journal Nature
Trapped methane and carbon dioxide in Central Africa’s Lake Kivu could be set loose by a quake or landslide, according to Professor George Kling. The carbon dioxide and methane entered the lake through volcanic vents. The gases are trapped in layers 80 meters below the lake’s surface by intense water pressure.
A similar situation on Lake Nyos in the Cameroon wreaked havoc in 1986 when a huge cloud of carbon dioxide bubbled up from the lake as a probable result of a landslide. Carbon dioxide is denser than air so the cloud traveled along the ground at 45 mph and suffocated everything in its path, including 1,700 people.
Lake Kivu is more than 3,000 times the size of Nyos and contains more than 350 times as much gas. The region is a center of volcanic activity. Most worrisome is that two million people live on the lake’s banks.
Energy companies are beginning to tap the lake’s methane to bring power to the region. Some researchers say this could reduce the risk of a gas eruption, while others worry that this activity could disrupt the lake’s equilibrium, making the situation more dangerous.
"It could be one of the great remediation projects of all time: mitigating a lethal natural hazard and at the same time bringing power to people who desperately need it," said Kling. "If it is done right."
Read more: Nature | World News | Guardian.co.uk
Kling’s research in Toledo Blade climate change series
The research of Professor George Kling was cited in a four-part series of articles on climate change in the Toledo Blade.
|
