Rate My Professor Robyn Cave

Dr. Robyn Cave is a lecturer in the School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability at the University of Queensland's Gatton campus. She earned her PhD in 2011 from the University of Queensland's School of Agriculture and Food Sciences with a thesis entitled Development and flowering of Brunonia australis and Calandrinia sp.: influence of temperature, daylength and vernalisation. Cave teaches a variety of courses in plant biology and horticulture, including AGRC1021 Applied Plant Biology, HORT2007/3009 Horticultural Science, HORT3008 Lifestyle Horticulture, HORT3003/7002 Production Horticulture, and AGRC2019 Ecology of Natural and Agricultural Systems. Her role involves both teaching and research contributions to horticultural sciences.

Cave's research centers on horticulture, with emphasis on seed germination, environmental influences on seed traits and early life-history stages, flowering physiology of native Australian plants, and production aspects of horticultural crops. She has led projects such as an ARC Linkage initiative to improve seed germination and mass production of native shrubs for commercial and restoration purposes. Her publications include two book chapters in The Coconut: Botany, Production and Uses (CABI, 2024): 'An introduction: botany, origin and diversity' and 'Coconut ecophysiology'. Recent journal articles feature 'Interactions between seed functional traits and environmental factors and their influence on germination performance of Australian native species' (Seed Science Research, 2024), 'Environmental effects during early life-history stages and seed development on seed functional traits of an Australian native legume species' (Biology, 2024), 'Seed morpho-anatomy and germination enhancement of the Australian native species Lomandra longifolia Labill. and L. hystrix (R.Br.) L.R. Fraser & Vickery' (Applied Biosciences, 2023), and 'Using choice analysis of growers’ preferences to prioritize breeding traits in horticultural tree crops: a macadamia case study' (Scientia Horticulturae, 2022). Earlier works include modelling vernalization and photoperiod responses in Annals of Botany (2013) and studies on cardinal temperatures for germination in HortScience (2011). Her contributions support sustainable plant propagation, native species restoration, and horticultural industry advancements.