Helen Rodd

{{short description|Canadian zoologist}}

{{BLP primary sources|date=February 2013}}

Helen Rodd is a Canadian zoologist who is a professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto.{{cite web |title=Helen Rodd |url=https://eeb.utoronto.ca/profile/rodd-helen/ |website=Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology |publisher=University of Toronto |access-date=27 January 2021}}

Rodd's work focuses on reproductive strategies among live-bearing fish as a system to understand mate selection among animals.{{Cite web|url=http://www.eeb.utoronto.ca/people/d-faculty/Rodd.htm|title=H. Rodd|website=www.eeb.utoronto.ca|language=en|access-date=2017-10-05}} Her work on mate preference in guppy fish (Poecilia reticulata) attracted media attention in numerous nature magazines{{Cite news|url=https://www.science.org/content/article/male-guppies-imitate-food-and-get-sex|title=Male Guppies Imitate Food and Get Sex|date=2002-02-28|work=Science {{!}} AAAS|access-date=2017-10-05|language=en}}{{Cite journal|last1=Olendorf|first1=Robert|last2=Rodd|first2=F. Helen|last3=Punzalan|first3=David|last4=Houde|first4=Anne E.|last5=Hurt|first5=Carla|last6=Reznick|first6=David N.|last7=Hughes|first7=Kimberly A.|title=Frequency-dependent survival in natural guppy populations|journal=Nature|volume=441|issue=7093|pages=633–636|doi=10.1038/nature04646|pmid=16738659|year=2006|bibcode=2006Natur.441..633O |s2cid=4383877}} and the United States public broadcasting service, as well as academic notice, based upon her research finding that female guppies in Trinidad may choose males for orange 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 government for her work in guppy mate selection.

Rodd received her Ph.D. in Biology from York University 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.{{cite web |title=Helen Rodd's Brief C.V. |url=https://rodd.eeb.utoronto.ca/contact/ |website=Rodd Lab |publisher=University of Toronto |access-date=27 January 2021}}