Cave Characterization in the North Karst Belt Zone of Puerto Rico: Cave Mesofauna Diversity as an Indicator of Pathogenic and Opportunistic Species

Abstract

To completely characterize a cave system, the relationship between the geological, geometrical, physicochemical, and biological properties must be described. The geological properties that provide information on the speleogenesis of the cave was found from a literature review of the region. The geometrical properties were measured to obtain the cartography of the cave in which the cave map, path, and volume were calculated using caveGEOmap. The studied physicochemical properties included the properties of bats' guano droppings that can be used to understand the mycological settings for guanophillic fungi and mesofauna. The abiotic factors such as acidity, guano-enriched soil moisture, and organic matter content were measured and analyzed. The biological properties investigated were the characterization of the bats and mesofauna of the cave by catch-and-release and traps. Total specimens, species richness, and diversity index of the mesofauna were measured for each trap. These measurements provide us with a possible indicator of regions of the cave that can have a possible health impact in humans. Although the abiotic factors measured do not show a clear relationship as a possible marker of fungi and bacteria, our study found that the mesofauna richness and diversity can be a direct indicator of pathogenic and opportunistic species that can affect the human health if their diets are known.