Traits indicating a conservative resource strategy are weakly related to narrow range size in a group of neotropical trees

Biological traits may co-determine differences in geographical range sizes among closely related species. In plants, trait values linked to a conservative resource-use strategy have been hypothesised to be associated with small range sizes. However, the empirical support is mixed and limited to extra-tropical species so far. Here, we analyse the relationship between range size and eight functional traits linked to the plant economics spectrum in congeneric pairs of neotropical tree species of Costa Rica with contrasting range sizes. In the lowland tropical rainforests of southern Costa Rica, we sampled 345 trees from 35 species in 14 genera and measured leaf thickness, leaf dry matter content, specific leaf area, wood specific gravity (WSG), leaf nitrogen (N), leaf phosphorus, leaf potassium and leaf N:P ratio. For each species, we estimated range size as the extent of occurrence using known localities of occurrence. We correlated range sizes with trait data scaled within-genus and with the principal components of the multivariate trait space. WSG was higher and leaf N was lower in species with small range sizes in univariate regression models, although these traits were only weakly related to range size. None of the other six traits was correlated with range size. Results were similar for a model using the principal components of the multivariate trait space, which explained 36% of the variation in species' extent of occurrence. Again, the traits most strongly associated with the selected components were WSG and leaf N. Although high WSG and low leaf N can be interpreted as indicators of conservative resource-use, we could not detect strong relationships between the respective trait syndrome and range size in our sample of species. Traits related to conservative resource use may hence be involved in determining the range size of the species analysed, but other factors are apparently more important.