Helen Rodd is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

who is a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

. Rodd's work focuses on reproductive strategies among live-bearing fish as a system to understand mate selection among animals. Her work on mate preference in

guppy The guppy (), also known as millionfish and rainbow fish, is one of the world's most widely distributed tropical fish and one of the most popular freshwater aquarium fish species. It is a member of the family Poeciliidae and, like almost all ...

fish (''Poecilia reticulata'') attracted media attention in numerous nature

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s and the

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public broadcasting service, as well as academic notice, based upon her research finding that female guppies in

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

may choose males for

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coloration similar to a favored food, the fruit of a local tree. In 2001, Rodd was awarded a ''Premier's Research Excellence Award'' by the

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

government for her work in guppy mate selection. Rodd received her Ph.D. in Biology from

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

in Toronto with a thesis titled: ''Phenotypic plasticity in the life history traits and sexual behaviour of Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata) in response to their social environment.''

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people University of Toronto alumni University of Toronto faculty York University alumni Canadian zoologists {{canada-academic-bio-stub