Robert E. Keane II

My research includes 1) developing spatially explicit ecological computer simulation models for exploring landscape, fire, vegetation, and climate dynamics, 2) conducting wildland fuel science: the sampling, describing, modeling, and mapping of wildland fuel characteristics, and 3) exploring the ecology and restoration of whitebark pine.

I have developed several computer models that operate at many scales including CRBSUM, LANDSUM, WXFIRE, FireBGC, and FireBGCv2 landscape simulation models. I also developed the originalversions of the FOFEM (First Order Fire Effects Model) and I have written several fire hazard and analysis programs (FLEAT, FIREHARM). I also assisted in the development of FIREMON (a FIRE MONitoring sampling and database management system)and ECODATA ( an ecological inventory system). I was also lead scientists on the LANDFIRE prototype project and wrote many computer programs for that project including LF-BGC, LANDSUMv4, and WXFIRE. I have written several articles about the restoration of whitebark pine ecosystems and have documented decomposition, deposition, and accumulation rates of wildland fuels in the northern US Rocky Mountains. I have also conducted landscape ecology experiments in wildland fuels to aid in sampling and mapping.

I am interested in the landscape ecology of ecosystem processes, especially disturbance, climate, and vegetation, and the scales at which these processes interact. I am also interested in the high elevation forests of the northern Rocky Mountains of the US, especially the whitebark pine ecosystem (its decline and potential restoration). Recently I've done work in understanding the dynamics of wildland fuels - how fuels accumulate, how their properties change over time, and how they are impacted by disturbance

Long-term, spatially explicit field sampling is costly and time consuming, especially at the time scales of fire regimes, vegetation succession, and climate, so ecosystem modeling provides a valuable tool to evaluate effects of changing climate and disturbance regimes on landscape ecology and condition. Fuels are the most important management factor in manipulating fire behavior because it is the only factor that managers can control, yet we know very little of the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of fuels over time and space. Last, whitebark pine forests are declining at alarming rates and new treatments are needed to restore these high elevation ecosystems.