Daniel’s research spans a diversity of areas in evolutionary biology and ecology, with a primary focus on the study of selection as a driver of adaptations and extinctions of biodiversity. His work combines theoretical and empirical approaches, and encompasses a range of fields, including selection theory, the ecological and genetic basis of adaptive evolution and speciation, macroecology, climate change biology and more recently, conservation.

Daniel heads the MacroBiodiversity Lab (MBL) at Queen’s University Belfast. MBL’s integrative approach expands into both theoretical and applied areas of research, from population to global-scale and from ecological to evolutionary timescales. The lab’s main focus is on adaptations, life history evolution, macroecology and the impact of climate change on biodiversity. Members of MBL work primarily on animal models, mostly vertebrates.

RECENT SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Pincheira-Donoso, D., Harvey, L.P., Johnson, J.V., Hudson, D., Finn, C., Goodyear, L.E.B., Guirguis, J., Hyland, E.M. & Hodgson, D.J. (2023). Genome size does not influence extinction risk in the world’s amphibians. Functional Ecology, 37:190-200.

Johnson, J.V., Dick, J. & Pincheira-Donoso, D. (2022). Local anthropogenic stress does not exacerbate coral bleaching under global climate change. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 31:1228-1236.

Zimin, A., Zimin, S.V., Shine, R., Feldman, A., Bauer, A., Böhm, M., Brown, R., de Oliveira Caetano, G., Castro-Herrera, F., Chapple, D.G., Chirio, L., Colli, G.R., Doan, T.M., Glaw, F., Grismer, L.L., Itescu, Y., Kraus, F., LeBreton, M., Martins, M., Morando, M., Murali, G., Nagy, Z.T., Novosolov, M., Oliver, P., Passos, P., Pauwels, O.S.G., Pincheira-Donoso, D., Ribeiro Junior, M.A., Shea, G., Tingley, R., Torres-Carvajal, O., Trape, J.F., Uetz, P., Wagner, P., Roll, U. & Meiri, S. (2022). A global analysis of viviparity in squamates highlights its prevalence in cold climates and high elevations. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 31: 2437-2452.

Pincheira-Donoso, D., Harvey, L.P., Cotter, S.C., Stark, G., Meiri, S. & Hodgson, D.J. (2021) The global macroecology of brood size in amphibians reveals a predisposition of low-fecundity species to extinction. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 30: 1299-1310.

Pincheira-Donoso, D., Harvey, L.P., Grattarola, F., Jara, M., Cotter, S.C., Tregenza, T. & Hodgson, D.J. (2021). The multiple origins of sexual size dimorphism in global amphibians. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 30: 443-458.

Amado, T.F., Martinez, P.A., Pincheira-Donoso, D. & Olalla-Tárraga, M.A. (2021). Body size distributions in anurans are explained by diversification rates and the environment. Global Ecology & Biogeography, 30: 154-164.

Stark, G., Pincheira-Donoso, D. & Meiri, S. (2020). No evidence for the rate of living theory across the tetrapod tree of life. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 29: 857-884.

Meiri, S., Avila, L., Bauer, A.M., Chapple, D.G., Das, I., Doan, T.M., Doughty, P., Ellis, R., Grismer, L., Kraus, F., Morando, M., Oliver, P., Pincheira-Donoso, D., Ribeiro-Junior, M.A., Shea, G., Torres-Carvajal, O., Slavenko, A. & Roll, U. (2020). The global diversity and distribution of lizard clutch sizes. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 29: 1515-1530.

Cotter, S.C., Pincheira-Donoso, D. & Thorogood, R. (2019). Defences against brood parasites from a social immunity perspective. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B, Biological Sciences, 374: 0180207.

Slavenko, A., Feldman, A., Allison, A., Bauer, A.M., Böhm, M., Chirio, L., Colli, G.R., Das, I., Doan, T.M., LeBreton, M., Martins, M., Meirte, D., Nagy, Z.T., Nogueira, C.C., Pauwels, O.S.G., Pincheira-Donoso, D., Roll, U., Wagner, P., Wang, Y., Meiri, S. (2019). Global patterns of body size evolution in squamate reptiles are not driven by climate. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 28: 471-483.

Pincheira-Donoso, D., Meiri, S., Jara, M., Olalla-Tarraga, M.A. & Hodgson, D.J. (2019). Global patterns of body size evolution are driven by precipitation in legless amphibians. Ecography, 42:1682-1690.

Pincheira-Donoso, D. & Hodgson, D.J. (2018). No evidence that extinction risk increases in the largest and smallest vertebrates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 115, E5845-E5846.

Pincheira-Donoso, D., Tregenza, T., Butlin, R.K. & Hodgson, D.J. (2018). Sexes and species as rival units of niche saturation during community assembly. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 27, 593-603.

Roll, U., Feldman, A., Novosolov, M., Allison, A., Bauer, A.M., Bernard, R., Böhm, M., Castro-Herrera, F., Chirio, L., Collen, B., Colli, G., Dabool, L., Das, I., Doan, T., Grismer, L., Hoogmoed, M., Itescu, Y., Kraus, F., LeBreton, M., Lewin, A., Martins, M., Maza, E., Meirte, D., Nagy, Z., Nogueira, C., Pauwels, O., Pincheira-Donoso, D., Powney, G., Sindaco, R., Tallowin, O., Torres-Carvajal, O., Trape, J., Vidan, E., Uetz, P., Wagner, P., Wang, Y., Orme, D., Grenyer, R. & Meiri, S. (2017). The global distribution of tetrapods reveals a need for targeted reptile conservation. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 1, 1677-1682.

Pincheira-Donoso, D., Jara, M., Reaney, A., García-Roa, R., Saldarriaga-Córdoba, M. & Hodgson, D.J. (2017). Hypoxia and hypothermia as rival agents of selection driving the evolution of viviparity in lizards. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 26, 1238-1246.

Pincheira-Donoso, D. & Hunt, J. (2017). Fecundity selection theory: concepts and evidence. Biological Reviews, 92, 341-356.