Jon Keeley
Biography
Dr. Keeley is currently a research scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey, stationed at Sequoia National Park. Prior to this appointment, he served one year in Washington, D.C. as director of the ecology program for the National Science Foundation. He was professor of biology at Occidental College for 20 years and spent a sabbatical year at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He has more than 350 publications in national and international scientific journals and books. His research has focused on ecological impacts of wildfires as well as other aspects of plant ecology, including rare plants, rare habitats such as vernal pools, and plant physiology. In 1985 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and is a Fellow of the Ecological Society of America and an Honorary Lifetime Member of the California Botanical Society. He has served on the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning Environmental Review Board, and the State of California Natural Communities Conservation Program (NCCP) Board of Scientific Advisors.
EDUCATION
- Ph.D. (Botany) University of Georgia, Athens, 1977
- M.S. (Biology) San Diego State University, 1973
- B.S. (Biology) San Diego State University, 1971
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
- U.S. Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center, Research Scientist
- (ST Scientist), 2015–present
- (GS series 0408), 1998–present
- University of California, Los Angeles, Adjunct Full Professor, 2001-present
- Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Research Associate, 1997–present
- National Science Foundation, Program Director 1997–1998
- Occidental College,
- Professor 1988–1998
- Department Chair 1982–1988
- Assist/Assoc Professor 1977–1988
- University of Cape Town, Visiting Professor 1990
AWARDS
- Fellow, Ecological Society of America, 2014
- Distinguished MEDECOS Fellow, 2011
- USGS Performance Award, 2011
- USGS Star Award, 2008
- Honorary Lifetime Member, California Botanical Society, 1998
- Fellow, Southern California Academy of Sciences, l994
- Guggenheim Fellow, l985–l986
- Sterling Award for Outstanding Teaching, l985
Science and Products
WERC Fire Science
WERC scientists are defining the past, present, and future of wildfires for wildlife and human communities. Explore this webpage to learn about specific, ongoing projects across California and parts of Nevada.
Southern California Wildfire Risk Scenario Project
Every year, wildfires devastate the landscapes of Southern California from Los Angeles to San Diego. How has a higher number of human-caused fires affected fire hazards and threats to resources? WERC’s Dr. Jon Keeley and collaborators are analyzing fire patterns across the state to help cities balance their management of fire hazards and natural resources.
Invasive Plants and Fire
Fire has had a very different influence on the forests and shrublands of California. Unlike the case in many forests where fires have been excluded for over a century, shrublands throughout the state have experienced the opposite impact. Invasive grasses that burn more readily than native plants have increased the frequency of wildfires in southern California shrublands. As fire clears swathes...
Environmental Change and Fire
The effects of a changing environment can ripple throughout an ecosystem. Increased temperatures and more frequent and severe droughts in the future may influence wildfire patterns as well as water resources for communities. Dr. Jon Keeley and partners are using nearly a century’s worth of fire data to aid local landowners, and state and Federal agencies in planning for wildfire on evolving...
Balancing Fire Hazards and Resource Protection
Human impacts on fires across California have been quite diverse. In many forests, fires have been nearly excluded over the past century, causing an unhealthy accumulation of dead vegetation and a greater threat of severe fires. However, on much of California’s lower elevation foothills and valleys, humans have greatly increased fire frequency. These landscapes are often juxtaposed with...
Sequoia and Kings Canyon Field Station
The Sequoia and Kings Canyon Field Station is home to research programs that focus on wildfire patterns in Southern California, and the effects of drought on Sierra Nevada forests. Select the "Science" tab for a more comprehensive summary.
Large California wildfires: 2020 fires in historical context
BackgroundCalifornia in the year 2020 experienced a record breaking number of large fires. Here, we place this and other recent years in a historical context by examining records of large fire events in the state back to 1860. Since drought is commonly associated with large fire events, we investigated the relationship of large fire events to...
Keeley, Jon; Syphard, Alexandra D. Ignitions explain more than climate or weather in driving Santa Ana Wind fires
Autumn and winter Santa Ana wind (SAW)–driven wildfires play a substantial role in area burned and societal losses in southern California. Temperature during the event and antecedent precipitation in the week or month prior play a minor role in determining area burned. Burning is dependent on wind intensity and number of human-ignited fires. Over...
Keeley, Jon; Guzman-Morales, Janin; Gershunov, Alexander; Syphard, Alexandra D.; Cayan, Daniel; Pierce, David W; Flannigan, Michael; Brown, Tim J Wildfires and global change
No single factor produces wildfires; rather, they occur when fire thresholds (ignitions, fuels, and drought) are crossed. Anomalous weather events may lower these thresholds and thereby enhance the likelihood and spread of wildfires. Climate change increases the frequency with which some of these thresholds are crossed, extending the duration of...
Pausas, Juli G.; Keeley, Jon
U.S. Geological Survey wildland fire science strategic plan, 2021–26
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Wildland Fire Science Strategic Plan defines critical, core fire science capabilities for understanding fire-related and fire-responsive earth system processes and patterns, and informing management decision making. Developed by USGS fire scientists and executive leadership, and informed by conversations with...
Steblein, Paul F.; Loehman, Rachel A.; Miller, Mark P.; Holomuzki, Joseph R.; Soileau, Suzanna C.; Brooks, Matthew L.; Drane-Maury, Mia; Hamilton, Hannah M.; Kean, Jason W.; Keeley, Jon E.; Mason, Robert R.; McKerrow, Alexa J.; Meldrum, James R.; Molder, Edmund B.; Murphy, Sheila F.; Peterson, Birgit; Plumlee, Geoffrey S.; Shinneman, Douglas J.; van Mantgem, Phillip J.; York, Alison Multiple-scale relationships between vegetation, the wildland–urban interface, and structure loss to wildfire in California
Recent increases in destructive wildfires are driving a need for empirical research documenting factors that contribute to structure loss. Existing studies show that fire risk is complex and varies geographically, and the role of vegetation has been especially difficult to quantify. Here, we evaluated the relative importance of vegetation cover at...
Syphard, Alexandra D.; Rustigian-Romsos, Heather; Keeley, Jon Contrasting prescription burning and wildfires in California Sierra Nevada national parks and adjacent national forests
History of prescription burning and wildfires in the three Sierra Nevada National Park Service (NPS) parks and adjacent US Forest Service (USFS) forests is presented. Annual prescription (Rx) burns began in 1968 in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, followed by Yosemite National Park and Lassen Volcanic National Park. During the last third...
Keeley, Jon; Pfaff, Anne Hopkins; Caprio, Anthony C. Seed production patterns of surviving Sierra Nevada conifers show minimal change following drought
Reproduction is a key component of ecological resilience in forest ecosystems, so understanding how seed production is influenced by extreme drought is key to understanding forest recovery trajectories. If trees respond to mortality-inducing drought by preferentially allocating resources for reproduction, the recovery of the stand to pre-drought...
Wright, Micah Charles; van Mantgem, Phillip J.; Stephenson, Nathan L.; Das, Adrian; Keeley, Jon Effects of postfire climate and seed availability on postfire conifer regeneration
Large, severe fires are becoming more frequent in many forest types across the western United States and have resulted in tree mortality across tens of thousands of hectares. Conifer regeneration in these areas is limited because seeds must travel long distances to reach the interior of large burned patches and establishment is jeopardized by...
Stewart, Joseph A E; van Mantgem, Phillip J.; Young, Derek J N; Shive, Kristen L.; Preisler, Haiganoush K.; Das, Adrian; Stephenson, Nathan L.; Keeley, Jon; Safford, Hugh D.; Wright, Micah Charles; Welch, Kevin R; Thorne, James H. Why are so many structures burning in California?
California has earned a reputation for wildfires that inflict serious damage on human infrastructure, dating back to images of Richard Nixon hosing down the roof of his house in the 1961 Bel-Air fire, and of the famous “fireproof” home of grocery store entrepreneur Fred Roberts burning to the ground in 1982. In recent years, this notoriety has...
Syphard, Alexandra D.; Keeley, Jon Subspecies differentiation in an enigmatic chaparral shrub species
PremiseDelimiting biodiversity units is difficult in organisms in which differentiation is obscured by hybridization, plasticity, and other factors that blur phenotypic boundaries. Such work is more complicated when the focal units are subspecies, the definition of which has not been broadly explored in the era of modern genetic methods. Eastwood...
Huang, Yi; Morrison, Glen R.; Brelsford, Alan; Franklin, Janet; Jolles, Diana D; Keeley, Jon; Parker, V Thomas; Saavedra, Natalie; Sanders, Andrew C; Stoughton, Thomas; Wahlert, Gregory A.; Litt, Amy Protecting the wildland-urban interface in California: Greenbelts vs thinning for wildfire threats to homes
This study utilized native chaparral and sage scrub shrubs to evaluate the impact of light summer irrigation on live fuel moisture content (LFMC) and predicted fire behavior. As to be expected LFMC varied markedly throughout the year being over 100% in winter in all species and treatments but differed markedly by treatment in the summer and fall....
Keeley, Jon; Rubin, Greg; Brennan, Teresa J.; Piffard, Bernadette Nexus between wildfire, climate change and population growth in California
Since the year 2000 California has experienced a remarkable upsurge in wildfires. Over five million hectares have burned in the last 20 years, which is double the area burned in the previous two decades. Much of this increase has been driven by large fires of more than 50,000 hectares that cause catastrophic losses of lives and property (Keeley...
Keeley, Jon; Syphard, Alexandra D.Living with Fire: The USGS Southern California Wildfire Risk Project
Southern California's fire ecology is unlike that of anywhere else in the United States. Fire control strategies developed for mountain forests don't have the same results here. So can science help uncover new answers to help Southern California communities manage and live with wildfires? This 11 minute film showcases ongoing USGS research supporting agencies on the
USGS Film: Living with Fire
A screenshot from the USGS film "Living with Fire".
"Living with Fire" is a 11-minute USGS production exploring ongoing USGS research on wildfire science in southern California -- where the fire ecology is unlike any other region in the United States.
USGS is investigating ways to balance community fire risk management and native habitat conservation as part
...
Research Spotlight: Ignitions and Wind Speed are Strongest Drivers of Area Burned in Santa Ana Wind Fires
New research from USGS scientists and collaborators has found that the number of wildfire ignitions and wind speeds outweigh temperature and precipitation in determining the area burned in Southern California’s Santa Ana wind-driven fires.
12 Days of Conifers: The Goldilocks Cones of Tecate Cypress
For Day 5 of 12 Days Of Conifers we have a very cool and rare tree—the Tecate cypress (Hesperocyparis forbesii)--and some fascinating facts about its fire-stimulated cones.
New USGS Research on 21st Century California Wildfires Examines Drivers of Fire Behavior and Structure Losses
Two new publications underscore the role of wind in destructive California wildfires
On Fire, Out West (NPR)
NAPA, SONOMA COUNTIES — As the Tubbs, Atlas, and Nuns fires raged across northern California, WERC's Jon Keeley appeared on NPR to provide insight into fire ecology across the state.