

34 



LAMBERSON 



Marshallese people. It had a productive coconut plantation 

 (established during the time of the German occupation) 

 which was somewhat overgrown and a field of Tacca. The 

 ocean side of the island was overgrown with scrub 

 Scaeuola and Tournefortia (Stage II), and the cleared area 

 had a ground cover of Cenchrus and other grasses, sedges, 

 Euphorbia spp., Physa/is, Triumfetta, Portulaca. Phi^l- 

 lanthus, Coniiza, Ipomoea, Stachi/tarpheta. Heliotropium, 

 and Thdax. Pluchea was notably absent. The residents 

 cleared the underbrush from the area around the buildings 

 and planted Pandanus and bananas. There was also a 

 mixed forest on the southwest third of the island dom- 

 inated by Pisonia, with Neisosperma. Cocos. Morinda, 

 Guettarda. Cordia. and Pandanus, with Boerhavia near the 

 margins (Stage IV to V). 



Jcdrol, a small island inside the deep pass, set back 

 from the atoll rim, had a mature Pisonia forest with no 

 Cocos but with Scaevola, Tournefortia, Terminalia, and 

 Guettarda (Stage IV to V). Fimbristy/is, Lepturus, and 

 Ipomoea macrantha were common, and Portulaca and 

 Boerhavia were present but less common. Some soil was 

 removed from this island in 1975 for the Enjebi garden. 



Medren and Enewetak were completely cleared during 

 the war and nuclear test days for construction of housing 

 and other buildings. Medren was abandoned in 1969, and 

 the buildings and equipment left there became overgrown 

 with plants (modified Stage II). Large shrubs and trees of 

 Tournefortia, Scaevola, and Cocos were growing, and 

 Pluchea spp. were abundant. There were remains of gar- 

 dens containing Coccoloba. Crinurn, and Leucaena. There 

 was a ground cover of various grasses (not including 

 Cenchrus), sedges, Portulaca, Cass\^tha, Euphorbia spp., 

 Ph\;llanthus, Triumfetta. and Ipomoea and introduced spe- 

 cies such as Tridax, Lippia, Stach\^tarpheta, Coni/za, Ver- 

 nonia, Heliotropium. and Waltheria. Enewetak was less 

 overgrown because it had been continually occupied but 

 had even more introduced species, including the weeds 

 Poiypremum, Desmodium, and Bidens. Ornamentals in- 

 cluded Crinum, Wedelia, Pseuderanthemum, Coccoloba, 

 Plumeria, and Hibiscus, and gardens contained many more 

 transient species of food plants and flowers not recorded 

 for this report. 



Bokandretok is a small islet just north of Enewetak 

 which may be reached from there on foot at low tide. It 

 was barren and occupied by troops in the 1950s but in 

 1977 supported a dense cover of Scaevola and Tour- 

 nefortia, with Lepturus and Triumfetta around the edges 

 (Stage II). 



The leeward islands, Ikuren through Ribewon, were lit- 

 tle affected by the war and test days and were not 

 involved in the cleanup and rehabilitation. There was a 

 weather station on Kidrenen, and there were a few derelict 

 barges and boats left along the shores, but the vegetation 

 in 1977 was Stage III to IV mixed forest. Coconuts were 

 abundant on Ikuren, Mut, and Kidrenen, but those on Mut 

 were old and seemed to be dying out (Stage IV to V). 

 Pisonia trees were present on all of the leeward islands, 

 and there were some nearly pure stands of this species 



(Stage V) and of Pemphis on Ribewon and Bokcn. The 

 successional stages described earlier were well illustrated 

 on these islands. 



Biken, isolated 20 km along the reef southwest of 

 Bokoluo, in 1977 had a forest dominated by Pisonia with 

 some old coconut trees and open underneath (Stage V). 

 There was a scrub Scaeuola-Tournefortia border along the 

 south side, with a few Guettarda and Morinda. Cenchrus, 

 Sida. and Ipomoea were present but uncommon on the 

 lagoon side, and on the north side there were Pandanus 

 and a group of Terminalia trees. A grove of old Cordia 

 trees was found at the entrance to an overgrown road on 

 the northwest side. The vegetation on this island was dam- 

 aged by Oak test to the north in 1958. It was described in 

 1964 as thick and overgrown with Ipomoea macrantha 

 making transit difficult (Welander et al., 1966), but in 

 1975 through 1977 it was open and easy to walk through. 

 Ipomoea and Cass^itha were still present but not abundant. 

 The ground cover outside the Pisonia area included 

 Boerhavia. Lepturus. and some Portulaca and Triumfetta. 

 There were a number of small craters on the island and 

 reef flat dating from World War II when the island was 

 used as a target for bombing practice. Coconut crabs were 

 abundant, and roosting immature frigate birds were often 

 seen, as were many other species of birds. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



This report is based in part on observations made by 

 the author during employment at the Mid-Pacific Marine 

 Laboratory from January 1975 through May 1977. 

 Species of plants reported as new records for Enewetak 

 were identified by Harold St. John of the Bernice P. 

 Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii, and by F. R. Fosberg 

 of the National Museum of Natural History. The Mid- 

 Pacific Research Laboratory is supported by the Division 

 of Biomedical and Environmental Research of the Depart- 

 ment of Energy under Contract No. AT(26-l)-628 to the 

 University of Hawaii. The author's sincere thanks are 

 extended to Edwin H. Bryan, Jr., Harold St. John, and 

 F. R. Fosberg for botanical information and help in identifi- 

 cation, for their interest and support during the period of 

 observation, and in the writing of this report. Appreciation 

 also is extended to S. H. Sohmer and Darrel Herbst for 

 many helpful comments in their review of the manuscript 

 and to Peggy Gaines for typing it. 



REFERENCES 



Anonymous, 1951, The Agriculture of Arno Atoll, Marshall 

 Islands, AtoW Res. Bull. No. 6. Pacific Science Board, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. 



Biddulph, O., 1950, Section VI of Radiobiological Survey of Bikini. 

 Eniwetok and Likiep Atolls. July-August, 1949, UWFL~23, 

 Appl. Fish. Lab. Univ. Wash. 



and R. Cory, 1952, The Relationship Between Co''*. Total 



Calcium and Fission Product Radioactivity in Plants of Portu- 

 laca oleracea Growing in the Vicinity of the Atom Bomb Test 

 Sites on Eniwetok Atoll. UWFL-31, Appl Fish. Lab. Univ. 

 Wash. 



