Curriculum Vitae

 

Eva Castells Caballé, Ph.D.

Born in Barcelona, December 2nd 1969

 

Present position:        Postdoctoral Research Associate        

 

                                University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

                                Department of Entomology

                                320 Morrill Hall, 505 S Goodwin Ave

                                Urbana, IL 61801, USA

 

                                Tel. 217 344 9961

                                Fax 217 244 3499

                                Email castells@life.uiuc.edu

 

 

Education

 

2002

PhD in Biology, Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain). Thesis entitled: “Phenolics: between carbon and nitrogen. Effects of elevated CO2 and soil N cycling interaction" supervised by Dr. Josep Peñuelas, CREAF.

 

1998

MS in Ecology, Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain)

 

1995

BS in Biology, University of Barcelona (Spain)

 

 

Fellowships awarded

 

2003

Travel Fellowship, Ministry of Education and Culture (Spain)

 

2003-2004

Fulbright-MECD postdoctoral fellowship, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA

2 years

 

1998-2002

FPI ("Formación de Personal Investigador") fellowship from the Ministry of Education and Culture (Spain)  to conduct a PhD at Autonomous University of Barcelona

4 years

 

1997

Short term fellowship by European Science Foundation (ESF- Program of Plant Adaptation) to conduct the proposal "Genotypic variations in the production of antiherbivore phenolic compounds under elevated CO2 levels" at Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionelle et Evolutive, CEFE-CNRS (Montpellier, France)

2 months

 

1993-1994

Training fellowship at the Science Museum of Barcelona by Fundació "la caixa" and University of Barcelona.

2 years

 

 

Professional Experience

 

2002-

present

Postdoctoral researcher at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA) in Dr. May R. Berenbaum laboratory

 

1997-2002

Graduate student at Center for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF) (Spain) supervised by Dr. Josep Peñuelas

 

1999

Visiting student at University of Alaska Fairbanks (USA)

 

1998

Visiting student at University of Alaska Fairbanks (USA)

 

1997

Visiting student at Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionelle et Evolutive-CNRS, Montpellier (France)

 

1995-1996

Undergraduate student at Ecology Department, University of Barcelona (Spain)

 

 

 

Publications

 

Castells E, Berhow MA, Vaughn SF, Berenbaum MR. Geographical variation in alkaloid production in Conium maculatum populations experiencing differential herbivory by Agonopterix alstroemeriana. Journal of Chemical Ecology In press

 

Castells E, Peñuelas J, Valentine DW (2005). Effects of plant leachates from four boreal understory species on soil N mineralization, and white spruce (Picea glauca) germination and seedling growth. Annals of Botany 95(7): 1247-1252

 

Castells E, Peñuelas J, Valentine DW (2004). Are phenolic compounds released from Cistus albidus responsible for changes in N cycling in siliceous and calcareous soils? New Phytologist 162(1): 187-195

 

Castells E, Peñuelas J. (2003) Is there a feedback between soil N availability in siliceous and calcareous soils and Cistus albidus leaf chemical composition? Oecologia 136: 183-192

 

Castells E, Peñuelas J, Valentine DW (2003). Influence of the phenolic compound bearing species Ledum palustre and soil N cycling in a boreal hardwood forest. Plant and Soil 251(2): 155-166

 

Castells E, Roumet C, Peñuelas J, Roy J (2002). Intraspecific variability of phenolic compounds and their responses to elevated CO2 in two Mediterranean perennial grasses. Environmental and Experimental Botany 47(3): 205-216

 

Peñuelas J, Castells E, Joffre R, Tognetti R (2002). Carbon-based secondary and structural compounds in Mediterranean shrubs growing near a natural CO2 spring. Global Change Biology 8(3): 281-288

 

Submitted

 

Castells E, Roy J, Peñuelas J. Phenolics response to elevated CO2 and increasing community species diversity in green leaves and litter of 17 Mediterranean grassland species.

 

Castells E, Berenbaum MR. Life history and laboratory rearing of Agonopterix alstroemeriana (Clerck) (Lepidoptera: Oecophoridae), the defoliating poison hemlock (Conium maculatum L.) moth.

 

 

Invited presentations

 

2004            Universidad Metropolitana, San Juan, Puerto Rico

2003            Phytochemical Society of North America, Peoria, IL (USA)    

1999            University of Alaska at Fairbanks

 

 

Reviewer of the following journals

 

New Phytologist

Annals of Botany

Biological Control

Oecologia

 

 

Member of the following scientific societies

 

Ecological Society of America