Jens W Knudsen Enewetak Atoll Marshall Islands

Sampling event Specimen
Latest version published by Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County on Nov 21, 2025 Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
Publication date:
November 21, 2025
License:
CC-BY 4.0

Download the latest version of this resource data as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A) or the resource metadata as EML or RTF:

Data as a DwC-A file download 595 records in English (200 KB) - Update frequency: as needed
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Description

Beginning in 1965, with funding from the National Science Foundation and the Atomic Energy Commission, Knudsen embarked on a multi phase study of ecosystem recovery on Enewetak Atoll (historically spelled Eniwetok) in the Marshall Islands. Between 1948 and 1958, a total of 43 nuclear tests were performed on Enewetak, including testing of the first hydrogen bomb on November 1, 1952. During his nearly annual visits (1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972), Knudsen and his students focused on studying the Enewetak Atoll birds (Pearson & Knudsen 1967) and crabs (Garth et al. 1987). The latter project’s three phases included: (1) an evaluation of the relationship between crabs and coral hosts (Knudsen 1967), (2) an evaluation of crab ecology (110 species), and (3) the publication of a detailed monograph of over 200 species of crabs discovered in the Marshall Islands (>35 had not been previously recorded there) (Garth et al. 1987). Multiple coral specimens collected in Enewetak by Knudsen are also part of the Burton T. Ostenson Museum collection of Pacific Lutheran University, where Knudsen taught.* Pearson, D.L. and J.W. Knudsen (1967) Avifaunal records from Eniwetok Atoll, Marshall Islands. The Condor 69(2): 201–203.* Knudsen, J.W. (1967) Trapezia and Tetralia (Decapoda, Brachyura, Xanthidae) as obligate ectoparasites of pocilloporid and acroporid corals. Pacific Science 21(1): 51–57.* Garth, J.S., J. Haig, and J.W. Knudsen (1987) Crustacea Decapoda (Brachyura and Anomura) of Enewetak Atoll. Pp. 235–261 in Devaney, D.M., E.S. Reese, B.L. Burch, and P. Helfrich (eds.) The Natural History of Enewetak Atoll. Volume II. Biogeography and Systematics, DOE/EV/07003-T1-Vol. 2 (DE87006111). U. S. Department of Energy, Office of Scientific and Technical Information, Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Data Records

The data in this sampling event resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 595 records.

1 extension data tables also exist. An extension record supplies extra information about a core record. The number of records in each extension data table is illustrated below.

Event (core)
595
Occurrence 
1501

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 3c6a0bce-eee9-4e6f-9ced-794e7b15c819.  Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF-US.

Keywords

Samplingevent; Specimen

Contacts

Regina Wetzer
  • Originator ●
  • Point Of Contact
  • Curator and Director Marine Biodiversity Center
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
  • 900 Exposition Boulevard
90007 Los Angeles
California
US
  • +1-213-763-3386
Victoria Westover
  • Originator
  • Senior Coordinator, Digitization
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
  • 900 Exposition Boulevard
90007 Lod Angeles
California
US
Jenessa Wall
  • Originator
  • Assistant Collections Manager
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
  • 900 Exposition Boulevard
90007 Los Angeles
California
US
Adam Wall
  • Originator
  • Collections Manager, Crustacea
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
  • 900 Exposition Boulevard
90007 Los Angeles
California
US
N. Dean Pentcheff
  • Originator
  • DISCO Project Manager
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
  • 900 Exposition Boulevard
90007 Los Angeles
California
US
Kathy Omura
  • Originator
  • Collections Manager, Marine Biodiversity Center
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
  • 900 Exposition Boulevard
90007 Los Angeles
California
US
  • +1-213-763-3386
Caroline Heymaker
  • Originator
  • Associate Collections Manager
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
  • 900 Exposition Boulevard
90007 Los Angeles
California
US
Leslie Harris
  • Originator
  • Collections Manager, Polychaetes
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
  • 900 Exposition Boulevard
90007 Los Angeles
California
US
Vijay Barve
  • Metadata Provider ●
  • Originator
  • Digitization Project Manager
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
  • 900 Exposition Boulevard
90007 Los Angeles
California
US

Geographic Coverage

Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands.

Bounding Coordinates South West [11.488, 162.227], North East [11.488, 162.227]

Taxonomic Coverage

No Description available

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Mollusca, Arthropoda, Annelida, Chordata
Class Polychaeta, Bivalvia, Copepoda, Malacostraca, Teleostei
Order Mysidacea, Decapoda, Stomatopoda, Galeommatida, Tanaidacea, Holocentriformes, Terebellida, Euphausiacea, Isopoda
Family Leucosiidae, Dynomenidae, Holocentridae, Inachidae, Xanthidae, Pseudorhombilidae, Trapeziidae, Ocypodidae, Diogenidae, Sicyoniidae, Palicidae, Hippidae, Paguridae, Parthenopidae, Aethridae, Sesarmidae, Eriphiidae, Calappidae, Pseudoziidae, Portunidae, Plagusiidae, Gnathophyllidae, Sergestidae, Pasiphaeidae, Galatheidae, Chaetopteridae, Pilumnidae, Acidopsidae, Domeciidae, Oziidae, Coenobitidae, Porcellanidae, Percnidae, Goneplacidae, Varunidae, Planopilumnidae, Alpheidae, Dairidae, Cirratulidae, Albuneidae, Callianassidae, Galeommatidae, Macrophthalmidae, Epialtidae, Dacryopilumnidae, Majidae, Grapsidae, Tetraliidae, Gecarcinidae

Temporal Coverage

Start Date / End Date 1965-02-04 / 1971-12-15

Project Data

No Description available

Title DigInTCN
Identifier DigInTCN

The personnel involved in the project:

Regina Wetzer
  • Principal Investigator

Additional Metadata

Acknowledgements
Alternative Identifiers 3c6a0bce-eee9-4e6f-9ced-794e7b15c819
https://ipt.vertnet.org/resource?r=lacm_jwk