Rate My Professor Wendy Tori

Wendy Tori is Professor of Biology and holder of the Martha Sykes Hansen Endowed Chair in Biology for Ornithology at Earlham College, where she joined the faculty in 2008. She earned a Ph.D. in Ecology and an M.S. in Biology from the University of Missouri, St. Louis, as well as a Post-Graduate Certificate in Environmental Quality Assessment and a B.S. in Biology from Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina in Peru. As a field ecologist and ornithologist, Tori specializes in bird ecology, behavior, genetics, and evolution. Her research examines factors shaping reproductive behavior in birds, including ecological, behavioral, environmental, and genetic influences on mate competition, mate choice, and reproductive success. She works with model systems such as white-crowned manakins (Dixiphia pipra) in the eastern Amazon of Ecuador and eastern bluebirds (Sialia sialis) in Indiana, testing hypotheses like the hotspot model of lek evolution and identifying metrics of male fitness across manakin species.

Tori actively involves Earlham undergraduates in her fieldwork across diverse locations, including the Amazon Rainforest, U.S. Midwest grasslands, Peru, Ecuador, Borneo, Galapagos, New Zealand, Tanzania, Nebraska, and the Bahamas. Collaborative projects include grassland ecology and habitat restoration with Dr. Jaime Coon in Iowa and Missouri, focusing on impacts on birds, and painted turtle mating systems with Dr. John Iverson. She leads off-campus study programs on tropical ecology, conservation, natural history, evolution, primate conservation, environment and sustainability, and animal behavior. Key publications include 'Invasive prey impacts the abundance and distribution of native predators' (Barber, Marquis, & Tori, Ecology, 2008), 'Environmental and spatial segregation of leks among six co-occurring species of manakins (Pipridae) in eastern Ecuador' (Loiselle et al., The Auk, 2007), 'Mate choice for genetic quality: a test of the heterozygosity and compatibility hypotheses in a lek-breeding bird' (Ryder et al., Behavioral Ecology, 2010), and 'Olfaction as a cue for nest-site choice in turtles' (Iverson et al., Chelonian Conservation and Biology, 2016). Tori serves on the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and Campus Life Advisory Committee at Earlham College.