Xiangrong (Mark) SUN

Like many in this field, my interest in nature began early, but it was during my undergraduate years at UC Berkeley that I truly found my way into field ecology. My first real fieldwork, where I collected macroinvertebrates and ecological data in the intermittent streams of Pinnacles National Park, made field ecology feel both challenging and deeply enjoyable to me.

Since then, I've been fortunate to work across a wide range of ecosystems and taxa, including forest ants, invasive arthropods, urban mammals, amphibians, and wild turkeys. One of my most memorable experiences was working on wild turkeys in Florida, where I helped track, capture, and raise their poults, spending over 50 consecutive days observing their foraging and growth. These projects taught me to appreciate biodiversity not merely as species lists, but as living communities shaped by movement, behavior, disturbance, climate, and human land use.

In the Bonebrake Lab, my PhD research will focus on moths in Hong Kong's tropical urban landscapes. I'm especially interested in how urbanization, climate change, and other factors influence their activity rhythms and community dynamics. More broadly, I hope to combine field ecology, natural history, remote sensing, and quantitative approaches to understand how global change reshapes biodiversity in human-dominated environments. Outside of research, I'm drawn to electric guitar solos and metal music, Edgar Allan Poe's darkly beautiful novels, and the open road. I love taking solo trips to national parks, hiking, and simply losing myself in the landscapes. I have a deep love for classical Chinese poetry, too; those ancient verses often capture the same solitude and vastness I feel in the wilderness.