Phylogenetic niche conservatism

Phylogenetic niche conservatism refers to the tendency of species to retain the ecological traits of their ancestors rather than diverge from them, and is closely related to the broader concept of phylogenetic signal. There is some contention among biologists over whether the term simply describes species resembling their ancestors, or specifically implies that closely related species are more similar to one another than would be expected from their phylogenetic relationships alone; under the stricter definition, it is treated as an extreme case of phylogenetic signal in which whatever processes prevent divergence remain active in the lineage. In practice, phylogenetic niche conservatism is usually invoked to describe closely related species that occur in similar environments. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/