TERRESTRIAL SAMPLE COLLECTION PROCEDURES
The primary purpose of the field collections was first, to take a representative
sample of the locally grown food supplies available to the local populations and second, to
determine the radionuclide concentrations in animals and plants relative to soils for an
entire island and atoll.
We will briefly describe the terrestrial sample collections and
processing procedures. A more detailed description may be found in Ref. 17.
When sampling an inhabited atoll or one used for agriculture, Department of Energy
(DOE) representatives arranged for purchase of local food items to be used as samples.
In most cases, local residents were
hired
to
assist
Lawrence
Livermore
National
Laboratory (LLNL) field crews in their collection.
Representative samples of available local food supplies consisted of livestock, food
grown in gardens, and food plants adjacent to the village. Soil samples were taken in the
root zone of all food plant samples. Coconuts are the most common and abundant of the
food plants and
therefore became our indicator species.
To determine
relative
radionuclide concentrations for the rest of an island or for uninhabited islands, coconuts
were collected along transects or on random grid patterns to obtain samples from the
total island area.
When found by field teams, coconut crabs, Pandanus, breadfruit, and
Tacca (arrowroot) were collected along with the coconuts.
All vegetation and animal
samples were frozen aboard ship and returned to LLNL for processing and analysis.
VEGETATION AND ANIMAL SAMPLING
In nearly all cases, plant samples collected were the edible portions of plants
representing different elements of the local diet. Some plants were collected in greater
numbers than others because they were present in larger quantities and usually
constituted a more significant part of the diet.
The majority of the vegetation samples
were fruits of coconuts, papaya, Pandanus, breadfruit, banana, Morinda, and squash.
Rootsof
Tacca
and
taro
and
leaves
from
Scaevola,
breadfruit,
Pisonia,
and
Messerschmedia trees were also collected.
Coconut palm Cocos nucifera is widespread throughout the Northern Marshall
Islands and must be considered the dominant food plant.
A coconut sample consisted of
five coconuts from one or all three stages of coconut used in the diet--drinking nut, copra
nut, and sprouting nut. Drinking coconuts are utilized for both eating and drinking by the
Marshallese. Copra nuts are used for food flavoring in many areas of the Pacific as well
as for oil that is of commercial value. Customarily the juice is discarded and the meat