Much of his early work is summarized in U.S. Geological Survey publications. His work has influenced the United States Congress on issues such as the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. He has been active in a variety of organizations, and has been the vice-president (1975-1976) and president (1976-1977) of the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography; vice-president (1978-1979), president (1981-1982) and honorary Fellow (2012) of the Ecological Society of America; president (2002) of the American Institute of Biological Sciences; and president (2001-2007) of the International Society of Limnology. Likens has received a substantial number of awards and honors of various kinds. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1979, and the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1981. He was also elected as a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1988, the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters in 1994 and the Austrian Academy of Sciences in 2000. He became an elected member in biological sciences of the American Philosophical Society in 2006. He's also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His awards include the 1988 ECI Prize in Limnetic Ecology, the 1993 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement and the 2001 Huxley Medal of the Institute of Biology, London, UK. He received a 2001 National Medal of Science from President George W. Bush on June 13, 2002. In 2003, Likens and Dr. F. Herbert Bormann received the Blue Planet Prize from Asahi Glass Foundation, for "outstanding scientific research that helps to solve global environmental problems". In 2014, he received the Alfred C. Redfield Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO). He has been awarded honorary doctoral degrees internationally (Universität für Bodenkultur, Vienna, 1992; Wageningen Agricultural University, The Netherlands, 1998) as well as nationally (Manchester College, 1979; Rutgers University, 1985; Plymouth State College, University System of New Hampshire, 1989; Miami University, 1990; Union College, 1991; Marist College, 1993; University of Connecticut, 2004; Montclair State University, 2012). He has won the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award (2016) jointly with Marten Scheffer for contributing decisively to what the jury describes as “one of the major challenges” of this scientific discipline: to understand and, where possible, anticipate ecosystem responses to human-induced alterations of the natural environment.  2018 - awarded honorary doctorate from Uppsala University, Sweden.