Emeritus Research Ecologist
robert.e.keane@usda.gov
Robert (Bob) Keane
Research Topics
- Wildland fuel science
- Whitebark pine ecosystem restoration
- Ecological modeling
- Climate change science
Personal Summary
Bob’s recent research includes:
- developing ecological computer simulation models for exploring landscape, fire, and climate dynamics,
- sampling, describing, modeling, and mapping fuel characteristics, and
- investigating the ecology and restoration of whitebark pine.
Bob has developed the CRBSUM, LANDSUM, FireBGC, and FireBGCv2 landscape simulation models. He developed the first versions of FOFEM (First Order Fire Effects Model) and he has written several fire hazard and analysis programs, including WXFIRE, FLEAT, and FIREHARM. He also assisted in the development of the ecological inventory and monitoring systems FIREMON and ECODATA. He is the Scientist-in-Charge of the Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest.
Learn More
Images
Bob Keane receives the 2019 Harold Biswell Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Fire Ecology
Audio and Video
Video file
Want to learn a new way to sample wildland fuel loadings using photoloads?
RMRS Bite Size Science, June 2019
Video file
Daylighting, video snippet by Bob Keane
Brief video highlighting Bob Keane's fire ecology project work with "Daylighting". Effects of a new restoration technique called Daylighting on whitebark pine stands in the Northern Rocky Mountains.
Photoloading - Surface fuel loading sampling methods
Brief video highlighting Bob Keane's fire ecology project work with "Photoloading". Sampling method to quickly and accurately estimate loadings for six surface fuel components using downward-looking and oblique photographs depicting sequences of graduated fuel loadings by fuel component.
Whitebark Pine ecology video snippet by Bob Keane
Brief video highlighting Bob Keane's fire ecology project work with "Whitebark pine ecology". Whitebark pine is a keystone species on which many other plant and animal species depend so restoration of this critical ecosystem is a major management concern for many land management agencies.
Whitebark Pine Climate Change, video snippet by Bob Keane
Brief video highlighting Bob Keane's fire ecology project work with whitebark pine and climate change. Documenting trends in growth, regeneration, and mortality of whitebark pine.: a climate perspective
WildlandFuel, video snippet by Bob Keane
Brief video highlighting Bob Keane's fire ecology project work with wildland fuels. Fuel is a factor in wildland fire management that we can actually manipulate and control.