AWARDEE OF LIFE SCIENCES PRIZE

LIU JIANKANG

Abstract

Professor Liu Jiankang, an ichthyologist and freshwater ecologist, was born in September, 1917, in Wujiang, Jiangsu Province. He graduated from the Biology Department of Soochow University in Suzhou, Jiangsu, and received a B. Sc. degree in1938. He was conferred Ph. D. degree from McGill University, Canada, in 1947. He has been a research professor in the Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) since 1950, was director of the institute in 1984-1987, and has been its emeritus director since 1987. He is concurrently an honorary president of the Chinese Society of Oceanology and Limnology, and of the Hubei Association for Science and Technology.He has been member (academician) of CAS Since 1980.
Early in 1944, Liu disclosed that eel has no genetic determination for sexuality, and every individual passes through the course of being a functional female before transforming into a functional male. In the 1950's, Professor Liu conducted year-round ecological studies on fishes in the Liangzi Lake,Hubei Province, and in the upper-(Mudong), middle-(Yichang), and lower-(Chongming) reaches of Chang Jiang River. In the 1970's, Professor Liu launched forth the demonstration experiment of increasing the fish production of Lake Donghu (the East Lake) in Wuhan. Fish production of this lake increased from 180 t in 1971 to 801 t in 1978 when the experiment terminated. In the domain of freshwater biological studies in China, Professor Liu took the lead in organizing limno-biological research on an ecosystem concept. The outcome of the ecological studies on Lake Donghu fully reflects the ecological features of he numerous shallow lakes on the middle and lower basins of the Chang Jiang River.
Professor Liu is the recipient of the third class National Prize of Natural Sciences (1995), a first class award of CAS Prize of Natural Sciences (1994), and two second class awards of CAS Prize of Progress in Science and Technolygy (1988,1995).