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
Factors affecting plant diversity during post-fire recovery and succession of mediterranean-climate shrublands in California, USA
Fire suppression impacts on postfire recovery of Sierra Nevada chaparral shrublands
Fuel reduction and coarse woody debris dynamics with early season and late season prescribed fire in a Sierra Nevada mixed conifer forest
Fuel reduction and woody debris dynamics with early season and late season prescribed fire in a Sierra Nevada mixed conifer forest
NO news is no new news
Fire management impacts on invasive plant species in the western United States
Seed germination of Sierra Nevada postfire chaparral species
Factors affecting plant diversity during postfire recovery and succession of mediterranean-climate shrublands in California, USA
Plot shape effects on plant species diversity measurements
Alien plant dynamics following fire in mediterranean-climate California shrublands
Determinants of postfire recovery and succession in mediterranean-climate shrublands of California
VTM plots as evidence of historical change: Goldmine or landmine?
Science and Products
- Science
- Data
- Multimedia
- Publications
Filter Total Items: 354
Factors affecting plant diversity during post-fire recovery and succession of mediterranean-climate shrublands in California, USA
Plant community diversity, measured as species richness, is typically highest in the early post-fire years in California shrublands. However, this generalization is overly simplistic and the present study demonstrates that diversity is determined by a complex of temporal and spatial effects. Ninety sites distributed across southern California were studied for 5 years after a series of fires. CharaAuthorsJ. E. Keeley, C. J. Fotheringham, M. Baer-KeeleyFire suppression impacts on postfire recovery of Sierra Nevada chaparral shrublands
A substantial portion of chaparral shrublands in the southern part of California's Sierra Nevada Mountain Range has never had a recorded fire since record keeping began in 1910. We hypothesised that such long periods without fire are outside the historical range of variability and that when such areas burn, postfire recovery is weaker than in younger stands. We predicted that long fire-free periodAuthorsJ. E. Keeley, A.H. Pfaff, H.D. SaffordFuel reduction and coarse woody debris dynamics with early season and late season prescribed fire in a Sierra Nevada mixed conifer forest
Fire exclusion has led to an unnatural accumulation and greater spatial continuity of organic material on the ground in many forests. This material serves both as potential fuel for forest fires and habitat for a large array of forest species. Managers must balance fuel reduction to reduce wildfire hazard with fuel retention targets to maintain other forest functions. This study reports fuel consuAuthorsE. E. Knapp, J. E. Keeley, E. A. Ballenger, T. J. BrennanFuel reduction and woody debris dynamics with early season and late season prescribed fire in a Sierra Nevada mixed conifer forest
Fire exclusion has led to an unnatural accumulation and greater spatial continuity of organic material on the ground in many forests. This material serves both as potential fuel for forest fires and habitat for a large array of forest species. Managers must balance fuel reduction to reduce wildfire hazard with fuel retention targets to maintain other forest functions. This study reports fuel consuAuthorsE. E. Knapp, J. E. Keeley, E. A. Ballenger, T. J. BrennanNO news is no new news
In the paper 'NO News', Preston et al. (2004) make a number of erroneous assumptions regarding nitrogen oxide chemistry. These authors also present some very significant misinterpretations of previous research into the effects of various nitrogen oxides on germination of post-fire followers. Methodological differences between the study by Preston et al. (2004) and previous work are also problematiAuthorsC. J. Fotheringham, J. E. KeeleyFire management impacts on invasive plant species in the western United States
Fire management practices affect alien plant invasions in diverse ways. I considered the impact of six fire management practices on alien invasions: fire suppression, forest fuel reduction, prescription burning in crown-fire ecosystems, fuel breaks, targeting of noxious aliens, and postfire rehabilitation. Most western United States forests have had fire successfully excluded for unnaturally longAuthorsJon E. KeeleySeed germination of Sierra Nevada postfire chaparral species
The California chaparral community has a rich flora of species with different mechanisms for cuing germination to postfire conditions. Here we report further germination experiments that elucidate the response of several widespread shrub species whose germination response was not clear and include other species from the Sierra Nevada, which have not previously been included in germination studies.AuthorsJon E. Keeley, Thomas W. McGinnis, Kim A. BollensFactors affecting plant diversity during postfire recovery and succession of mediterranean-climate shrublands in California, USA
Plant community diversity, measured as species richness, is typically highest in the early post-fire years in California shrublands. However, this generalization is overly simplistic and the present study demonstrates that diversity is determined by a complex of temporal and spatial effects. Ninety sites distributed across southern California were studied for 5 years after a series of fires. CharaAuthorsJon E. Keeley, C. J. Fotheringham, Melanie Baer-KeeleyPlot shape effects on plant species diversity measurements
Abstract. Question: Do rectangular sample plots record more plant species than square plots as suggested by both empirical and theoretical studies?Location: Grasslands, shrublands and forests in the Mediterranean-climate region of California, USA.Methods: We compared three 0.1-ha sampling designs that differed in the shape and dispersion of 1-m2 and 100-m2 nested subplots. We duplicated an earlierAuthorsJon E. Keeley, C. J. FotheringhamAlien plant dynamics following fire in mediterranean-climate California shrublands
Over 75 species of alien plants were recorded during the first five years after fire in southern California shrublands, most of which were European annuals. Both cover and richness of aliens varied between years and plant association. Alien cover was lowest in the first postfire year in all plant associations and remained low during succession in chaparral but increased in sage scrub. Alien coverDeterminants of postfire recovery and succession in mediterranean-climate shrublands of California
Evergreen chaparral and semideciduous sage scrub shrublands were studied for five years after fires in order to evaluate hypothesized determinants of postfire recovery and succession. Residual species present in the immediate postfire environment dominated early succession. By the fifth year postfire, roughly half of the species were colonizers not present in the first year, but they comprised onlVTM plots as evidence of historical change: Goldmine or landmine?
VTM (Vegetation Type Map) plots comprise a huge data set on vegetation composition for many parts of California collected mostly between 1929 and 1935. Historical changes in vegetation have been inferred by sampling these areas many decades later and evaluating the changes in plant dominance. VTM plots can not be precisely relocated, and it has been assumed that errors resulting from this problemAuthorsJon E. Keeley - Software
- News