Cave Resource Evaluation Using Sensitivity Scoring Index Applied to the Capisaan Cave System, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines

Caves are significant nonrenewable resources that provide a variety of ecosystem services with varying sensitivities to disturbance. This study assessed the sensitivity of resources found in the Capisaan Cave System (CCS) in Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya to below and above-ground human activities or disturbances by adopting a standardized scale or index. Cave passages comprising the whole cave system were divided into subsections and were individually evaluated. Parameters included the characterization of the biological, hydrological, geological, mineralogical, paleontological, and cultural resources of the cave system. Inventory methods such as belt transect, point-transect distance sampling, opportunistic sampling, and total enumeration were employed. Results showed that animals associated with CCS both at the surface and subsurface levels had high diversity and endemicity. Hydrology inside and surrounding CCS is also very active and continuously shapes the geological structure of CCS. Among the sensitivity parameters, biota was found to be the most sensitive to disturbance followed by speleothems and hydrology resources. The computed sensitivity of resources found in CCS places it in the “slightly sensitive” classification. However, the study recommends that managers look at the individual parameter scores of each cave section instead of simply looking at the overall score of the cave system. The sensitivity classification of CCS was changed to “severely sensitive” when the zero-indexed parameters were removed from the computation, with Section 1 obtaining a classification of “critically sensitive” and, therefore, requiring more strict and intensive management interventions. This information is important in deciding where and how to manage specific sections without sacrificing future ecological and economic uses. Overall, the study successfully tested the applicability of the modified existing standardized cave sensitivity assessment index for a tropical cave, providing a comprehensive method that may serve as a convenient model for assessing other cave systems in the country.