LEMMA Team Detail
 | Kenneth Pierce Jr. Former position: Research Ecologist Ecosystem Processes Program Pacific Northwest Research Station USDA Forest Service | |
Educational Background
A.A., 1995 (zoology), Fullerton College, Fullerton, CA
B.S., 1997 (biology/ecology, global sustainability), University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA
Ph.D., 2002 (landscape ecology), Duke University Program in Ecology, Durham, NC
Research Interests
Ken's research interests are focused on understanding the spatial distribution of natural habitats and resources in order to increase our knowledgebase and improve our ability to manage natural resources in a long term sustainable manner. As populations expand we will need to more carefully manage our resources and to do this we need the best information possible about the distribution and functioning of those resources. Ken has worked on regional mapping of forest structure and wildland fuels. This research includes the basic premise of mapping but also the quantification on spatial uncertainty at different scales.
Biography
Ken was a postdoctoral researcher with the LEMMA group from 2002 to 2007. He started his career as an ecologist in coastal sage scrub restoration as an undergraduate at UC Irvine. Ken's graduate work at Duke covered multiple locations including southern Appalachian oak/hickory forests and Sierran mixed-conifer forests. His thesis examined interactions at different scales between tree seed dispersal and environmental gradients. As part of the LEMMA group, Ken worked on mapping forest species, structure and wildland fuels and spatial accuaracy assessment.
Refereed Publications
 | Pierce Jr., KB, JL Ohmann, MC Wimberly, MJ Gregory, JS Fried. 2009. Mapping wildland fuels and forest structure for land management: a comparison of nearest-neighbor imputation and other methods. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 39(10):1901-1916. |
 | Pierce Jr., KB, TA Lookingbill, DL Urban. 2005. A simple method for estimating potential relative radiation (PRR) for landscape-scale vegetation analysis. Landscape Ecology 20(2):137-147. |
| Urban, DL, S Goslee, KB Pierce Jr., TA Lookingbill. 2002. Extending community ecology to landscapes. Ecoscience 9(2):200-212. |
Technical Reports
| Ohmann, JL, MC Wimberly, JS Fried, KB Pierce Jr., MJ Gregory. 2005. A novel approach to regional fuel mapping: linking inventory plots with satellite imagery and GIS databases using the Gradient Nearest Neighbor method. Final report to the Governing Board, Joint Fire Science Program; Project 01-1-4-09. |
Other Non-Refereed Publications
| Pierce Jr., KB, K Brewer, JL Ohmann. 2006. Moderate resolution data and Gradient Nearest Neighbor imputation for regional-national risk assessment. Advances in Threat Assessment Conference Proceedings; USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station; Boulder, CO July 18-20, 2006; Published online at: http://www.forestencyclopedia.net/p/p5/p3389/p3443. |
| Pierce Jr., KB, JL Ohmann. 2005. Gradient nearest neighbor imputation for mapping forest attributes and variability. Quantitative Techniques for Deriving National-Scale Data; Westminster, CO July 26-28, 2005; USFS General Technical Report (FHTET-2005-12). |
| Wimberly, MC, JL Ohmann, KB Pierce Jr., MJ Gregory, JS Fried. 2003. A multivariate approach to mapping forest vegetation and fuels using GIS databases, satellite imagery, and forest inventory plots. Proceedings of the Second International Wildland Fire Ecology and Fire Management Congress. Orlando, FL; 16-20 November 2003. American Meteorological Society. |
| Pierce Jr., KB. 2002. Scaling interactions between landscapes and demography. Doctoral Thesis; University Program in Ecology, Duke University. |
Presentations
 | Gregory, MJ, JL Ohmann, HK May, EB Grossmann, KB Pierce Jr., TM Holt, JS Fried. 2008. Recent advances and applications of nearest neighbors methods for regional-scale forest vegetation modeling. Department of Forest Science Seminar: Corvallis, OR; April 2008. |
| Grossmann, EB, JL Ohmann, J Kagan, KB Pierce Jr., HK May, MJ Gregory. 2008. Random forests and nearest neighbors: Methods for mapping the West Cascades of Oregon. US Regional Association of the International Association of Landscape Ecology Annual Meeting: Madison, WI; April 2008. |
| Powell, SL, RE Kennedy, SP Healey, KB Pierce Jr., WB Cohen, GG Moisen, JL Ohmann. 2008. Comparison of methods to model aboveground biomass for derivation of 20+ year trajectories. NASA Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems Joint Science Workshop: College Park, MD; April 2008. | |
| Grossmann, EB, JL Ohmann, J Kagan, KB Pierce Jr., HK May, MJ Gregory. 2007. Models for ecological systems map building: random forest and gradient nearest neighbor. Which one works best?. National GAP Analysis Program Conference: Asheville, NC; September 2007. |
| Ohmann, JL, KB Pierce Jr., EB Grossmann, MJ Gregory, HK May, TM Holt. 2007. Current Vegetation Mapping in Western Oregon. Presented at: USFS Klamath Falls Ranger District: Klamath Falls, OR; June 2007. |
| Ohmann, JL, MJ Gregory, KB Pierce Jr., HK May, EB Grossmann. 2007. Seeing the forest and the trees: harnessing GIS to map forests of the Pacific Northwest. Keynote address to GIS Day: Corvallis, OR; November 2007. |
| Ohmann, JL, JS Fried, KB Pierce Jr., MJ Gregory, MC Wimberly. 2006. Mapping forest vegetation and fuels with Gradient Nearest Neighbor imputation. Yosemite Fire Science Symposium: Yosemite National Park, CA; May 2006. |
| Ohmann, JL, KB Pierce Jr., EB Grossmann, MJ Gregory, HK May, TM Holt. 2006. Mapping current vegetation in the Pacific Coast States with GNN, CART, and other tricks. Workshop and field tour with NF, ODF, TNC, and R6: Sycan Marsh Research Station, OR; September 2006. |
| Ohmann, JL, MJ Gregory, KB Pierce Jr., TM Holt, HK May. 2006. Mapping forest species and plant communities with Gradient Nearest Neighbor imputation. 2006 Nearest Neighbors Workshop - Meeting in the Middle: Minneapolis, MN; August 2006. |
| Pierce Jr., KB, JL Ohmann. 2006. Variance of similar neighbors compared to random imputation. 2006 Nearest Neighbors Workshop - Meeting in the Middle: Minneapolis, MN; August 2006. |
| Fried, JS, JL Ohmann, KB Pierce Jr., MC Wimberly, MJ Gregory. 2005. A mid-scale approach to mapping forest fuel and fire hazards at the wildland-urban interface by imputation and modeling of inventory plot data. Seventh Annual Forest Inventory and Analysis Science Symposium: Portland, ME; October 2005. | |
| Gregory, MJ, KB Pierce Jr., JL Ohmann. 2005. Gradient Nearest Neighbor imputation for local scale basal area mapping: FIA 2005 Symposium interpolation contest. Seventh Annual Forest Inventory and Analysis Science Symposium: Portland, ME; October 2005. |
| Ohmann, JL, KB Pierce Jr., MJ Gregory, JS Fried. 2005. Gradient Nearest Neighbor imputation based on FIA plots - useful tool or lying with maps?. Seminar at Forestry Sciences Lab: Portland, OR; August 2005. | |
| Pierce Jr., KB, JL Ohmann, MJ Gregory, JS Fried. 2005. Regional vegetation mapping in support of risk assessment. Workshop on regional risk assessment methodologies. Organized by Western Wildlands Environmental Threat Assessment Center, USDA Forest Service: Portland, OR; September 2005. | |
| Pierce Jr., KB, JL Ohmann, MJ Gregory, JS Fried. 2005. Gradient Nearest Neighbor imputation mapping in support of risk assessment. Workshop for evaluating quantitative techniques for deriving national scale data for assessing and mapping risk; organized by Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team, Forest Health Protection, USDA Forest Service: Fort Collins, CO; July 2005. | |
| Pierce Jr., KB, MC Wimberly, JL Ohmann, MJ Gregory, JS Fried. 2005. What is the probability that I-30 runs through Fort Worth? Incorporating uncertainty into map use. Annual meeting of the Society of American Foresters: Fort Worth, TX; October 2005. | |
| Ohmann, JL, KB Pierce Jr., MJ Gregory, MC Wimberly, JS Fried. 2004. A novel approach to regional fuel mapping: linking inventory plots with satellite imagery and GIS databases using the Gradient Nearest Neighbor method. Joint Fire Science Program Principal Investigator Workshop: Phoenix, AZ; April 2004. | |
| Pierce Jr., KB, JL Ohmann, MJ Gregory. 2004. Assessing spatial uncertainty in landscape vegetation maps created with imputation procedures. US Regional Association of the International Association of Landscape Ecology Annual Meeting: Las Vegas, NV; April 2004. | |
| Wimberly, MC, C Avery, JL Ohmann, KB Pierce Jr., MJ Gregory, JS Fried. 2004. Influences of landscape structure, drought, and wind on crown fire spread in forest landscapes. US Regional Association of the International Association of Landscape Ecology Annual Meeting: Las Vegas, NV; April 2004. | |
| Ohmann, JL, KB Pierce Jr., MJ Gregory, MC Wimberly, JS Fried. 2003. A novel approach to regional fuel mapping: linking inventory plots with satellite imagery and GIS databases using the Gradient Nearest Neighbor method. Joint Fire Science Program Principal Investigator Workshop: Phoenix, AZ; March 2003. | |
| Ohmann, JL, KB Pierce Jr., MJ Gregory, S Danskin, MC Wimberly, JS Fried. 2003. Mapping live and dead forest fuels at the ecoregion scale in coastal Oregon with Landsat imagery and forest inventory plots. US Regional Association of the International Association of Landscape Ecology Annual Meeting: Banff, AB; April 2003. | |
| Wimberly, MC, JL Ohmann, KB Pierce Jr., MJ Gregory, JS Fried. 2003. A multivariate approach to mapping forest vegetation and fuels using GIS databases, satellite imagery, and forest inventory plots. Fifth Symposium on Fire and Forest Meteorology and 2nd International Wildland Fire Ecology and Fire Management Congress: Orlando, FL; November 2003. |
Posters
| Grossmann, EB, JL Ohmann, J Kagan, KB Pierce Jr., HK May, MJ Gregory. 2007. A tale of two techniques: Gradient Nearest Neighbor and random forest for mapping ecological systems in Oregon's Western Cascades. North American Forest Ecology Workshop: Vancouver, BC; June 2007. |
| Fried, JS, JL Ohmann, MC Wimberly, KB Pierce Jr., MJ Gregory. 2006. Tapping the forest inventory for spatially continuous estimates of fuels and fire potential: the GNNFire approach. First Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference: Fuels Management - how to measure success: Portland, OR; March 2006. | |
| Ohmann, JL, MJ Gregory, KB Pierce Jr., MC Wimberly, JS Fried. 2005. A novel approach to regional fuel mapping: linking inventory plots with satellite imagery and GIS databases using the Gradient Nearest Neighbor method. Poster presented at Joint Fire Science Program Principal Investigator Workshop: San Diego, CA; November 2005. | |
| Ohmann, JL, MJ Gregory, KB Pierce Jr., MC Wimberly, JS Fried. 2005. Mapping forest vegetation and fuels with Gradient Nearest Neighbor imputation in three western ecoregions. JFSP Annual Meeting: San Diego, CA; October 2005. |
| Pierce Jr., KB, JL Ohmann, MJ Gregory, MC Wimberly, JS Fried. 2004. Mapping forests of the Pacific Northwest: structure, species and uncertainty. Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting: Portland, OR; August 2004. |
| Wimberly, MC, C Avery, JL Ohmann, KB Pierce Jr., MJ Gregory, JS Fried. 2004. Landscape connectivity and the potential for catastrophic fire in forested landscapes. Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting: Portland, OR; August 2004. |