[3] According to a recent review,[2] the term niche conservatism traces its roots to a book on comparative methods in evolutionary biology.
Methods such as Abouheif’s C,[7] Pagel's lambda,[8] Blomberg's K,[9] and Moran's I[10] have been employed to test the statistical significance of the pattern.
[citation needed] To take a single statistical test as an example, an unconstrained Brownian motion evolution process will result in a Blomberg's K value of 1; the strict school of thought would only accept a K > 1 as evidence of phylogenetic niche conservatism.
In an influential paper, Wiens and Donoghue[3] laid out how phylogenetic niche conservatism might help explain the latitudinal diversity gradient.
[13][14] That is, the study of phylogenetic niche conservatism by itself has not put an end to long-standing debate over what drives the latitudinal diversity gradient across clades, but within specific clades and across specific environmental gradients (as opposed to latitude sensu stricto), it has found support as a factor influencing which lineages are able to persist.