Jon Keeley
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.
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
Education and Certifications
Ph.D. (Botany) University of Georgia, Athens, 1977
M.S. (Biology) San Diego State University, 1973
B.S. (Biology) San Diego State University, 1971
Honors and 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
Fire intensity, fire severity and burn severity: A brief review and suggested usage
Fire treatment effects on vegetation structure, fuels, and potential fire severity in western U.S. forests
Large, high-intensity fire events in Southern California shrublands: Debunking the fine-grain age patch model
The 2007 southern California wildfires: Lessons in complexity
Fuel age and fire spread: Natural conditions versus opportunities for fire suppression
18. Arctostaphylos Adanson, Fam. Pl. 2: 165. 1763.
Fire severity and ecosytem responses following crown fires in California shrublands
Biogeochemical legacy of prescribed fire in a giant sequoia - Mixed conifer forest: A 16-year record of watershed balances
Ecological effects of large fires on US landscapes: benefit or catastrophe?
It's the land use not the fuels: fires and land development in southern California
The Role of Fuel Breaks in the Invasion of Nonnative Plants
Taxonomic revisions in the genus Arctostaphylos (Ericaceae)
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Filter Total Items: 354
Fire intensity, fire severity and burn severity: A brief review and suggested usage
Several recent papers have suggested replacing the terminology of fire intensity and fire severity. Part of the problem with fire intensity is that it is sometimes used incorrectly to describe fire effects, when in fact it is justifiably restricted to measures of energy output. Increasingly, the term has created confusion because some authors have restricted its usage to a single measure of energyAuthorsJ. E. KeeleyFire treatment effects on vegetation structure, fuels, and potential fire severity in western U.S. forests
Abstract. Forest structure and species composition in many western U.S. coniferous forests have been altered through fire exclusion, past and ongoing harvesting practices, and livestock grazing over the 20th century. The effects of these activities have been most pronounced in seasonally dry, low and mid-elevation coniferous forests that once experienced frequent, low to moderate intensity, fire rAuthorsS.L. Stephens, J.J. Moghaddas, C. Edminster, C.E. Fiedler, S. Haase, M. Harrington, J. E. Keeley, E. E. Knapp, J.D. Mciver, K. Metlen, C.N. Skinner, A. YoungbloodLarge, high-intensity fire events in Southern California shrublands: Debunking the fine-grain age patch model
We evaluate the fine-grain age patch model of fire regimes in southern California shrublands. Proponents contend that the historical condition was characterized by frequent small to moderate size, slow-moving smoldering fires, and that this regime has been disrupted by fire suppression activities that have caused unnatural fuel accumulation and anomalously large and catastrophic wildfires. A revieAuthorsJ. E. Keeley, P.H. ZedlerThe 2007 southern California wildfires: Lessons in complexity
The 2007 wildfire season in southern California burned over 1,000,000 ac (∼400,000 ha) and included several megafires. We use the 2007 fires as a case study to draw three major lessons about wildfires and wildfire complexity in southern California. First, the great majority of large fires in southern California occur in the autumn under the influence of Santa Ana windstorms. These fires also costAuthorsJon E. Keeley, H. Safford, C. J. Fotheringham, J. Franklin, M. MoritzFuel age and fire spread: Natural conditions versus opportunities for fire suppression
Wildfires are driven and restrained by an interplay of variables that can lead to many potential outcomes. As every wildland firefighter learns in basic training, the ability of a fire to spread is determined by three basic variables: fuel type and condition, weather, and topography. Fire suppression obviously plays a significant role in determining fire spread as well, so firefighter activity becAuthorsRichard W. Halsey, Jon E. Keeley, Kit Wilson18. Arctostaphylos Adanson, Fam. Pl. 2: 165. 1763.
Arctostaphylos is richly diverse and taxonomically challenging. Unequivocal fossils appear as far back as the middle Miocene. Many pulses of diversification and decimation may have taken place in the genus since then; evidence suggests that there has been a rapid radiation in the last 1.5 million years. Some morphological features are not clearly differentiated among taxa and appear to be mosaicalAuthorsV. Thomas Parker, Michael C. Vasey, Jon E. KeeleyFire severity and ecosytem responses following crown fires in California shrublands
Chaparral shrublands burn in large high-intensity crown fires. Managers interested in how these wildfires affect ecosystem processes generally rely on surrogate measures of fire intensity known as fire severity metrics. In shrublands burned in the autumn of 2003, a study of 250 sites investigated factors determining fire severity and ecosystem responses.Using structural equation modeling we show tAuthorsJ. E. Keeley, T. Brennan, A.H. PfaffBiogeochemical legacy of prescribed fire in a giant sequoia - Mixed conifer forest: A 16-year record of watershed balances
The effects of prescription burning on watershed balances of major ions in mixed conifer forest were examined in a 16-year paired catchment study in Sequoia National Park, California. The objective was to determine whether fire-related changes in watershed balances persist as long as estimated low-end natural fire-return intervals (???10 years), and whether cumulative net export caused by fire couAuthorsD.L. Engle, J.O. Sickman, C.M. Moore, A.M. Esperanza, J.M. Melack, J. E. KeeleyEcological effects of large fires on US landscapes: benefit or catastrophe?
The perception is that today’s large fires are an ecological catastrophe because they burn vast areas with high intensities and severities. However, little is known of the ecological impacts of large fires on both historical and contemporary landscapes. The present paper presents a review of the current knowledge of the effects of large fires in the United States by important ecosystems written byAuthorsRobert E. Keane, James K. Agee, Peter Fule, Jon E. Keeley, Carl H. Key, Stanley G. Kitchen, Richard Miller, Lisa A. SchulteIt's the land use not the fuels: fires and land development in southern California
No abstract available.AuthorsStephanie Pincetl, Philip W. Rundel, Julie Clark De Blasio, Dan Silver, Tom Scott, Jon E. Keeley, Richard W. HalseyThe Role of Fuel Breaks in the Invasion of Nonnative Plants
Executive Summary Fuel reduction projects have become an increasingly important component of state and federal fuels management programs. However, an unintended result of some pre-fire fuel manipulation projects may be the introduction of nonnative invasive plants. The establishment of nonnative plants within fuel breaks is a serious concern because the presence of invasive species in areas treAuthorsKyle E. Merriam, Jon E. Keeley, Jan L. BeyersTaxonomic revisions in the genus Arctostaphylos (Ericaceae)
Changes are made in the nomenclature of species and subspecies in the genus Arctostaphylos(Ericaceae). In this study, the focus is on species found in the coast ranges of California. Changes are made in A. nortensis from the area around the Oregon border with California, in the A. nevadensiscomplex in the North Coast Ranges, in the A. nummularia complex of the north to central coast, in the A. tomAuthorsV. Thomas Parker, Michael C. Vasey, Jon E. Keeley - Software
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