Research Interest: Molecular genetic improvement of plant nutrient
utilization efficiency.
My doctoral training and scholarly work is on the mechanisms by which plants respond to NaCl stress and on the significance of these responses for plant growth and primary productivity. A significant portion of my research has been to unravel the interaction of NaCl salinity with the uptake of nutrient ions and the role that calcium plays in this interaction both in calcium use efficient and inefficient genotypes of tomato.
Teaching:
I teach an undergraduate course called ‘Plant Biology for Non-Science
Majors’(BSCI 124) which covers the structure and function of plants, as
well as the evolution, ecology, and economic importance of plants.
My goal is to foster an effective teaching environment where students can
be actively engaged in the learning process. I strive to encourage
students to master new concepts by involving them in their own learning
through planned exercises geared to make them think. This way, students
can build upon their knowledge base, connecting what they know, to where
I take them throughout the course.
I also manage the lab portion of this Plant Biology course (BSCI 125).
Publications:
Robert, V.J.M., M.A.L. West, S. Inai, A.M. Caines, L. Arntzen, J.K. Smith, D.A. St.Clair. 2001. Marker-assisted introgression of blackmold resistance QTL alleles from wild Lycopersicon cheesmanii to cultivated tomato (L. esculentum) and evaluation of QTL phenotypic effects. Molecular Breeding 8: 217-233.
Caines, A. M. and C. Shennan. 1999. Growth and nutrient composition of Ca2+ use efficient and Ca2+ use inefficient genotypes of tomato. Plant Physiol. Biochem. 37 (7/8) 559-567.
Caines, A. M. and C. Shennan. 1999. Interactive effects
of Ca2+ and NaCl salinity
on the growth of two tomato genotypes differing in Ca2+
use efficiency. Plant Physiol. Biochem. 37 (7/8) 569-576.