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