National Museum of Natural History (U.S.) Pacific Ocean Biological Survey Program field research records, 1961-1973
Physical Description:
1 folder
Physical Location:
Smithsonian Institution Archives
Sublocation:
Box 2, folder 6
Record type:
Fieldbook record
Object Type:
Field notes
Place:
Hawaiian Islands
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
Pacific Ocean
Leeward Islands
Lisianski Island
Date Range:
1963-1968
Start Date:
19630214
End Date:
19680320
Abstract:
The Pacific Ocean Biological Survey Program (POBSP) was initiated in 1962 when the Smithsonian Institution entered into a grant agreement with the Department of Defense. From January 1963 through June 1969 Smithsonian Institution employees undertook biological surveys in an area of the Pacific Ocean spanning the equator and extending from latitude 30 degrees north to 10 degrees south and from longitude 150 degrees east to 180 degrees west, an area dotted with clusters of islands and atolls. The major goals of the program were to learn what plants and animals occurred on the islands, the seasonal variations in their numbers and reproductive activities, and the distribution and population of the pelagic birds of that area. Emphasis was placed on the banding of birds in an effort to determine migration, distribution, and abundance of pelagic sea birds. During the six and a half years of field work 1,800,000 birds were banded; approximately 150,000 observations of pelagic birds at sea were made; and biological surveys of varying intensity were made on several islands. The present folder contains: an earlier text on an extinct duck-like bird of the Pacific Island; early climatic data on Lisianski Island; first records of the avifauna of Lisianski Island by the POBSP dated February 14, 1963-March 20 1968; copies of field notes on birds of the Hawaiian islands, dated October-November 1964 and January 25-March 25, 1965; a preliminary report on Lisianski Island, prepared by Roger B. Clapp; some correspondence; banding data; a list of specimens of birds collected by POBSP.
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