# Under Pressure: Shading, High Herbivory, and Low Levels of Fertilization Drive the Vegetative Response of a Highly Invasive Species

## TL;DR

This study examines how environmental stressors like shading, herbivory, and fertilization affect the growth and adaptability of the invasive plant Tithonia diversifolia.

## Contribution

The study evaluates the combined effects of multiple stressors on plant performance and fluctuating asymmetry in an invasive species.

## Key findings

- Shading increased leaf fluctuating asymmetry and promoted plastic adjustments in plant traits.
- High herbivory and intraspecific competition consistently reduced plant performance.
- Fertilization improved plant performance and reduced the negative effects of stressors.

## Abstract

Invasive plant species persist under environmental conditions due to phenotypic plasticity, which allows them to cope with conditions such as herbivory, competition, and resource availability. However, plant responses to individual and combined stressors are variable. In addition, fluctuating asymmetry (FA) has been proposed as an indicator of plant stress, although its reliability remains debated, and few studies have evaluated its responses under interacting stressors. We evaluated, in two greenhouse experiments, the isolated and combined effects of herbivory and shading; and belowground intraspecific competition and fertilization on performance, trait plasticity, and leaf FA in seedlings of the invasive plant Tithonia diversifolia. Shading reduced shoot biomass, but promoted plastic adjustments in architectural, photosynthetic, and leaf structural traits that enhance light capture, and also increased FA. Herbivory interaction with shade induced high leaf mass per area of plants. In contrast, high herbivory and intraspecific competition consistently reduced plant performance across multiple traits. Fertilization enhanced overall performance and mitigated the negative effects of herbivory and competition. Overall, our results emphasize the need to consider interacting environmental factors when assessing invasive plant performance and plasticity. Furthermore, FA showed inconsistent responses across treatments, suggesting its limited reliability as a biomarker of isolated and combined environmental stress.