![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/218\/2026\/07\/2026-6-24-John-Quinn-and-Anna-Moon-research-pics-edited-6-768x512.jpg\")
Recording devices help Anna Moon \u201928 study the effects land use has on how an environment supports biodiversity. Photo by Owen Withycombe, Furman University.<\/p><\/div>\n
Moon, a sustainability sciences<\/a> and Spanish<\/a> double-major from Alabama, knew coming to Furman that she wanted to work in nature conservation<\/a>. After studying birds in one of Quinn\u2019s classes her first year, she spent that summer doing remote research from home helping identify the birds caught on these field recorders.<\/p>\n \u201cThis summer I\u2019m on campus, and it feels more like my own project. I feel more invested,\u201d Moon said.<\/p>\n At Furman, students don\u2019t have to wait until their senior year to get practical research experience, Quinn said. As a first-year student, Moon joined a lab and learned the basics, and this year she\u2019s taken on more responsibility and ownership over her independently led project.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t know you could do this; it never crossed my mind,\u201d she said. \u201cI would love to explore this kind of work with different animals as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Through lab work with professor John Quinn, right, Anna Moon \u201928 is expanding her research through parts of Western North Carolina in partnership with a professor at Western Carolina University. Photo by Owen Withycombe, Furman University.<\/p><\/div>\n Moon said it\u2019s been rewarding to get out of the lab and into nature. Her birdsong data, paired with insect acoustic data from her partner at Western Carolina University, can be used to track migration patterns, how weather affects these animals and how animals use these locations, among other insights.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/218\/2026\/07\/2026-6-24-John-Quinn-and-Anna-Moon-research-pics-edited-11-768x512.jpg\")