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Kevin Suir

Kevin Suir is a computer scientist who serves as a lead application developer for the Wetland and Aquatic Research Center's Advanced Applications Team.  

EDUCATION

M.S., Center for Advanced Computer Studies, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 2012

B.S., Center for Advanced Computer Studies, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 2008

RESEARCH

Kevin began working with the USGS as an intern in 2005, and his work spans a wide range of topics including data standards, database management, software architecture and development, web services and application programming interfaces (API), web design, and workflow automation. He has worked with numerous subject matter experts to develop desktop software to run ecological models, and has played an ongoing role in the development of a desktop modeling data visualization platform, the EverVIEW Data Viewer. Other recent projects include a series of relational databases to capture and analyze biological monitoring data, as well as web mapping applications to present such data to public audiences. Much of the work Suir has participated in can be found on the Joint Ecosystem Modeling web site.

Science and Products

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Fundamental Monitoring Elements

Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council Monitoring and Assessment Program Development

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and USGS will jointly lead the development of foundational components for Gulf region-wide monitoring.
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Ecosystems, Land Management Research Program, Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center, Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center
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Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council Monitoring and Assessment Program Development

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and USGS will jointly lead the development of foundational components for Gulf region-wide monitoring.
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Adult and juvenile Piping Plovers (Kaiti Titherington/USFWS)

An Online Portal for Managing and Reporting Annual Piping Plover Monitoring Data

Federally-listed as threatened since 1986, the Atlantic Coast Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) population comprises fewer than 2,000 breeding pairs, according to the most recent census data. These breeding pairs are the target of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) species recovery plan.
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Ecosystems, Species Management Research Program, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center
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An Online Portal for Managing and Reporting Annual Piping Plover Monitoring Data

Federally-listed as threatened since 1986, the Atlantic Coast Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) population comprises fewer than 2,000 breeding pairs, according to the most recent census data. These breeding pairs are the target of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) species recovery plan.
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Everglades Wood Stork Foraging Potential Model

Collaborative Development of Ecological Forecasting Model and Data Manipulation Software: Everglades National Park, South Florida Natural Resources Center (SFNRC)

The goal of the Advanced Applications Team’s partnership with SFNRC is to facilitate the use of scientific research findings in restoration and land management decisions.
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Ecosystems, Land Management Research Program, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center
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Collaborative Development of Ecological Forecasting Model and Data Manipulation Software: Everglades National Park, South Florida Natural Resources Center (SFNRC)

The goal of the Advanced Applications Team’s partnership with SFNRC is to facilitate the use of scientific research findings in restoration and land management decisions.
Learn More
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GIS and Custom Application Support for the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council

GIS and Custom Application Support for the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council

The scientists at the Wetland and Aquatic Science Center (WARC) have provided coastal restoration project managers and decision makers with GIS planning, database and custom application capacity since 1992. The scope and complexity of this support has increased over the years and has resulted in the development of a comprehensive geospatial and advanced application teams that provide decision...
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Ecosystems, Land Management Research Program, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center
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GIS and Custom Application Support for the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council

The scientists at the Wetland and Aquatic Science Center (WARC) have provided coastal restoration project managers and decision makers with GIS planning, database and custom application capacity since 1992. The scope and complexity of this support has increased over the years and has resulted in the development of a comprehensive geospatial and advanced application teams that provide decision...
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EverForecast hydrologic output for April 2020: a six-month water stage forecast for the Greater Everglades

Operational ecological forecasting is an emerging field that leverages ecological models in a new, cross-disciplinary way, using a real-time or nearly real-time climate forecast to project near-term ecosystem states. These applications give decision-makers lead time to anticipate and manage state changes that degrade ecosystem functions or directly impact humans. The Everglades Forecasting model (
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Wetland and Aquatic Research Center
Filter Total Items: 13

EverForecast—A near-term forecasting application for ecological decision support

The Everglades Forecasting application (EverForecast) provides decision makers with a support tool to examine optimal allocations of water across the managed landscape while explicitly quantifying the conflicting needs of multiple species. Covering the Greater Everglades (a vast, subtropical wetland ecosystem in South Florida), EverForecast provides 6-month forecasts of daily projected water stage
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Ecosystems, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center

Council monitoring and assessment program (CMAP): Common monitoring program attributes and methodologies for the Gulf of Mexico Region

Executive Summary Under the Resources and Ecosystem Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act of 2012 (RESTORE Act), the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council (RESTORE Council or Council) is required to report on the progress of funded projects and programs. Systematic monitoring of restoration at the project-specific and programmatic-levels (i.e.
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Ecosystems, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center

Council Monitoring and Assessment Program (CMAP): User guide for the Gulf Coast Monitoring and Assessment Portal

The Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act (RESTORE Act Final Rule at 31 C.F.R. Part 34) was signed into law on July 6, 2012. The RESTORE Act calls for a regional approach to restoring the long-term health of the valuable natural ecosystem and economy of the Gulf Coast region. The RESTORE Act dedicates 80 percent of civil
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Ecosystems, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center

Council monitoring and assessment program (CMAP): A framework for using the monitoring program inventory to conduct gap assessments for the Gulf of Mexico Region

Executive Summary Under the Resources and Ecosystem Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act of 2012 (RESTORE Act), the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council (RESTORE Council or Council) is required to report on the progress of funded projects and programs. Systematic monitoring of restoration at the project-specific and programmatic-levels (wate
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Ecosystems, Oklahoma Water Science Center, Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center, Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center

Near-term spatial hydrologic forecasting in Everglades, USA for landscape planning and ecological forecasting

Operational ecological forecasting is an emerging field that leverages ecological models in a new, cross-disciplinary way – using a real-time or nearly real-time climate forecast to project near-term ecosystem states. These applications give decision-makers lead time to anticipate and manage state changes that degrade ecosystem functions or directly impact humans. The Everglades Forecasting model
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Ecosystems, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center

Council monitoring and assessment program (CMAP) compilation of existing habitat and water quality monitoring and mapping assessments for the Gulf of Mexico Region

This report is a deliverable to the RESTORE Council for Task 7: Document the existing baseline habitat and water quality conditions prior to implementation of the restoration projects; these baseline conditions will serve as a basis for measuring change/progress after restoration. It is the second in a series of CMAP reports. The first report describes the process and development of the CMAP monit
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Water Resources, Ecosystems, Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center, Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center

Council Monitoring and Assessment Program (CMAP): Inventory of existing water quality and habitat monitoring, and mapping metadata for Gulf of Mexico Programs

Under the Council-Selected Restoration Component of the RESTORE Act, the Council develops Funded Priority Lists (FPLs) that describe the projects and programs it will fund. Projects and programs funded through this component must be in furtherance of the goals and objectives of the Council’s Comprehensive Plan and address at least one of the restoration criteria identified in the RESTORE Act. The
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Ecosystems, Water Resources, Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center

Regional protocol framework for the inventory and monitoring of breeding Atlantic Coast Piping Plovers

This regional protocol provides a framework for quantifying the number of breeding pairs and productivity of Atlantic Coast piping plover (Charadrius melodus) populations during the breeding season. A primary purpose of this protocol is to standardize piping plover monitoring during the breeding season. The survey techniques described herein involve repeated visual counts of adults, nests, eggs, a
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Ecosystems, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center

Use of remote sensing to detect and predict aquatic nuisance vegetation growth in coastal Louisiana: Summary of findings

On an annual basis, federal and state agencies are responsible for mapping and removing large expanses of aquatic nuisance vegetation from navigable waterways. This study set out to achieve four primary objectives: (1) utilize recent advancements in remote sensing techniques to classify the extent and distribution of aquatic vegetation in coastal ecosystems using satellite imagery, (2) assess prim
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Ecosystems, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center

Modeling apple snail population dynamics on the Everglades landscape

Context The Florida Everglades has diminished in size and its existing wetland hydrology has been altered. The endangered snail kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis) has nearly abandoned the Everglades, and its prey, the apple snail (Pomacea paludosa), has declined. Objective We developed a population model (EverSnail) to understand apple snail response to inter- and intra-annual fluctuations in water dept
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Ecosystems, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center

EverVIEW: a visualization platform for hydrologic and Earth science gridded data

The EverVIEW Data Viewer is a cross-platform desktop application that combines and builds upon multiple open source libraries to help users to explore spatially-explicit gridded data stored in Network Common Data Form (NetCDF). Datasets are displayed across multiple side-by-side geographic or tabular displays, showing colorized overlays on an Earth globe or grid cell values, respectively. Time-ser
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Ecosystems, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center

A visualization tool to support decision making in environmental and biological planning

Large-scale ecosystem management involves consideration of many factors for informed decision making. The EverVIEW Data Viewer is a cross-platform desktop decision support tool to help decision makers compare simulation model outputs from competing plans for restoring Florida's Greater Everglades. The integration of NetCDF metadata conventions into EverVIEW allows end-users from multiple instituti
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Ecosystems, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center

Science and Products