Vinca Major outcompeting native plant species along the Big Chico Creek
Authors: Sajan Willbanks, Azreal Sanchez
Contact information: spwillbanks@csuchico.edu, adsanchez1@csuchico.edu
Almost anywhere you are with abundant vegetation, a large portion of plant species will be invasive to the area. It is no different along the Big Chico Creek that runs through California State University, Chico. One particular species, Vinca major, seems very prevalent along the creek, especially under tall, shade providing trees. The goal of our project is to determine the correlation between abundance and competitiveness of Greater Periwinkle, Vinca major, with native plant species and if they are outcompeting the native plant species.
Although Greater Periwinkle is a beautiful trailing vine that many establishments utilize to create an aesthetically pleasing landscape, it is a highly invasive plant species to California. Vinca major is a spreading perennial groundcover originally from Europe and Africa which means that this plant species survives year round. Not only is Greater Periwinkle a perennial plant but it also spreads rapidly and creates a dense groundcover that smothers native plants.
To collect our data, we chose three trees along the Big Chico Creek to serve as our test sites. We then used quadrat sampling to collect our data, and set up a 10x10m square around the tree. Each cell of the quadrat was 1x1m, and any plant within a cell was recorded and later identified to create a detailed figure that represents total plant coverage.
Allowing an invasive plant species to thrive in an environment that it does not originate from can prove to be detrimental to the plant species that are native to the area. If the native plant species are removed from their natural habitat it will solidify their decline and eventually cease to exist if they are outcompeted.
Vinca Major (Greater Periwinkle)