Carles Castano Soler

With a background in forestry, my first contact with fungal ecology began in 2007, when I worked for four years as a forest pathologist at the Forest Science Center of Catalonia (CTFC). In 2015, I started an industrial PhD at the University of Lleida focused on how forest management and abiotic factors influence soil fungal communities in Mediterranean forest ecosystems. During this period, I also collaborated in studies investigating the ecology of black truffle plantations in Spain, as well as the drought resistance of soil fungi and pine seedlings.

In November 2018, I joined the Department together with Karina Clemmensen and Sara Hallin to investigate how fungal and microbial communities influence vegetation shifts and regulate important ecosystem processes, including nitrogen and carbon cycling in soils, using molecular and biochemical approaches.

My current research focuses on understanding how microbial communities respond to environmental disturbances such as climate change, grazing, forest management, and land-use change, and how these responses affect soil processes and ecosystem functioning. Ongoing projects include investigating how reindeer grazing influences soil fungi and soil processes in Arctic ecosystems, as well as studying the soil fungal communities inhabiting semi-natural grasslands.

A central theme of my research is to understand the ecosystem mechanisms mediated by microbial communities that regulate soil nutrient cycling, carbon storage, and plant colonization from an ecosystem ecology perspective. A particular focus is on how management practices and environmental disturbances, such as tree harvesting, pest outbreaks, climate change, and land-use change, influence these microbial-driven processes. To address these questions, I combine molecular, biochemical, and ecological approaches.

Additional research interests include the ecology of black truffle systems, drought responses of tree-associated soil fungi, and the mechanisms underlying microbial and fungal adaptation to drought stress.

Projects funded as principal investigator:

• FORMAS Mobility. Feeling the heat(h): Can reindeer grazing stabilize soil organic matter in arctic and alpine tundra heath under climate warming? (2021-2025).
• FORMAS Grant. MicrObial DIversity and functions in (h)edges of CUltivated Soils (MODICUS). (starting)

Projects funded as co-investigator:

• The Swedish Research Council. Tree establishment in ericaceous understory – importance of mycorrhizal networks and guild interactions (2023-2028).
• FORMAS grant. CHEGDmate – diversity, conservation and nutritional mode of waxcaps and allied in Swedish grasslands. (starting).

Mikrobiom - en introduktion till mikroorganismernas fascinerande värld. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Course leader. 7.5 ECTS

Molecular Methods in Microbial Ecology. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Sequencing and data handling lab. 4 hours lecture.

MSc in Mediterranean Forestry and Natural Resources Management. University of Lleida, Spain. Biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and the provisioning of goods and services (0.2 ECTS). 2 hours lecture.

MSc in Mediterranean Forestry and Natural Resources Management. University of Lleida, Spain. Trends of forestry in a climate change context (3 ECTS). 2 hours lecture

MSc in Mediterranean Forestry and Natural Resources Management. University of Lleida, Spain. Mediterranean Forest Management (5 ECTS). 2 hours lecture

PhD students

Viktor Lund (co-supervisor), Eva Kubove (co-supervisor), Matilda Stein (co-supervisor), Daniel Oliach (co-supervisor), Irene Adamo (co-supervisor).

Master students

Rieke Lo Madsen, Albert Morera

• Castaño C, Ylänne H, Clemmensen KE. 2025. Editorial: Fungal ecology at treelines. Fungal Ecology, accepted.
• Castaño C, Glimskär A, Hallin S, Maaroufi NI, Skånes H, Taylor A, Clemmensen KE. Fungal and arbuscular mycorrhizal communities unique to old grasslands in a Swedish agricultural landscape. Applied soil ecology 213, 106233.
• Ylänne H, Castaño C, Clemmensen KE. 2025. Fungi in treeline ecotones– halting or causing abrupt ecosystem change? Fungal Ecology, accepted.
• Riggi LGA, Sveen TR, Castaño C, Onorati P, van Apeldoorn DF, Berri M, Mommer L, Clemmensen KE, Bahram M. 2025. Impact of plant diversity in potato-ley strip-cropping systems on soil microbial communities. Applied Soil Ecology 206, 105777.
• Tyvijärvi A, Stark S, Ylänne H, Castaño C, Adamczyk B. 2024. Shifts in soil C stabilization mechanisms are linked to reindeer-induced changes in plant communities and associated fungi in subarctic tundra. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 194, 109441.
• Seidel F*, Castaño C*, Alday JG, Bonet JA. 2024. Contrasting fungal functional groups influence nutrient cycling across four Japanese cool-temperate forest soils. Applied Soil Ecology 198, 105360.
• Castaño C, Hallin S, Egelkraut D, Lindahl BD, Olofsson J, Clemmensen KE. 2023. Contrasting plant–soil–microbial feedbacks stabilize vegetation types and uncouple topsoil C and N stocks across a subarctic‐alpine landscape. New Phytologist 238 (6), 2621-2633.
•  Castaño C, Suarez-Vidal E, Zas R, Bonet JA, Oliva J, Sampedro L. 2023. Ectomycorrhizal fungi with hydrophobic mycelia and rhizomorphs dominate in young pine trees surviving experimental drought stress. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 178, 108932.
•  Oliach D, Castaño C, Fischer CR, Barry-Etienne D, Bonet JA, Colinas C, Oliva, J. 2021. Soil fungal community and mating type development of Tuber melanosporum in a 20-year chronosequence of black truffle plantations. Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 165. 108510.
• Adamo I, Castaño C, Bonet JA, Colinas C, Martínez de Aragón J, Alday JG. 2021. Lack of phylogenetic differences in ectomycorrhizal fungi among distinct Mediterranean pine forest habitats. Journal of Fungi. 7 (10). 193.
•  Adamo I, Castaño C, Bonet JA, Colinas C, Martínez de Aragón J, Alday JG. 2021. Soil physico-chemical properties have a greater effect on soil fungi than host species in Mediterranean pure and mixed pine forests. Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 160. 108320.
• Ylänne H, Madsen RL, Castaño C, Metcalfe DB, Clemmensen KE. 2021. Reindeer control over subarctic treeline alters soil fungal communities with potential consequences for soil carbon storage. Global Change Biology. 27 (18), 4254-4268.
• Hagenbo A, Piñuela Y, Castaño C, Martínez de Aragón J, de-Miguel S, Alday JG, Bonet JA. 2020. Production and turnover of mycorrhizal soil mycelium relate to variation in drought conditions in Mediterranean Pinus pinaster. New Phytologist 230 (4), 1609-1622.
• Collado E, Castaño C, Bonet JA, Hagenbo A, Martinez de Aragon J, de-Miguel S. 2020. Divergent above- and below-ground responses of fungal functional groups to forest vegetation disturbance. Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 150, 108010.
• Castaño C, Camarero JJ, Zas R, Sampedro L, Bonet JA, Alday J, Oliva J. 2020. Insect defoliation impairs tree growth and decreases ectomycorrhizal fungal biomass but not diversity in conifer stands. Tree Physiology. 40 (12), 1712-1725.
• Mari T, Castano C, Rodríguez A, Ibanez M, Lobo A, Sebastià MT. 2020. Fairy rings harbor distinct soil fungal communities and high fungal diversity in a montane grassland. Fungal Ecology. 47, 100962.
• Castaño C, Berlin A, Brandström Durling M, Ihrmark K, Lindahl BD, Stenlid J, Clemmensen KE, Olson Å. 2020. Optimized metabarcoding with Pacific Biosciences enables semi-quantitative analysis of fungal communities. New Phytologist. 228 (3).
•  Castaño C, Hernández-Rodríguez M, Geml J, Eberhart J, Olaizola J, Oria-de-Rueda JA, Martín-Pinto P. 2020. Resistance of the soil fungal communities to medium-intensity fire prevention treatments in a Mediterranean scrubland. Forest Ecology and Management. 472, 118217.
• Tomao A, Bonet JA, Castaño C, de-Miguel C. 2020. How does forest management-related anthropogenic disturbances affect fungal diversity and community composition? Current knowledge and future perspectives for the conservation of forest fungi. Forest Ecology and Management. 457, 117678.
•  Castaño C, Bonet JA, Oliva J, Farré G, Martínez de Aragón J, Parladé J, Pera J, Alday JG. 2019. Rainfall homogenizes while fruiting increases diversity of spore deposition in Mediterranean conditions. Fungal Ecology. 39, 328-335.
• Castaño, C., Bekele T., Mediavilla, O., Geml, J., Oria-de-Rueda, J.A., Martin-Pinto, P. 2019. Changes in fungal diversity and composition along a chronosequence of Eucalyptus grandis plantations in Ethiopia. Fungal Ecology. 9, 328-335.
• Castaño C, Alday JG, Lindahl BD, Martínez de Aragón J, de-Miguel S, Colinas C, Parladé J, Pera J, Bonet JA. 2018. Lack of thinning effects over inter-annual changes in soil fungal community and diversity in a Mediterranean pine forest. Forest Ecology and Management. 424, 420-427.
• Castaño C, Lindahl BD, Alday JG, Hagenbo A, Martínez de Aragón J, Parladé J, Pera J, Bonet JA. 2018. Soil microclimate changes affect soil fungal communities in a Mediterranean pine forest. New Phytologist. 220, 1211-1221. doi: 10.1111/nph.15205.  

Natural Resources Institute Finland. Jan-Apr 2024.

Natural Resources Institute Finland. Jan-Apr 2023.

Yamagata University (Tsuruoka, Japan). May-June 2018.

Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (Barcelona, Spain). June-September (2014)