Jamaican Caving Notes

Marta Tick Cave

May 6, 2005 - 15:15-16:30 EST

District: Sawmill

Parish: Trelawny

WGS84 L/L: Reserved. Contact JCO

JAD69: Reserved.

JAD2001: Reserved.

Altitude: 345m WGS84

Accuracy: +/- 10m horizontal; +/- 20m vertical

Type: Complex Cave

Accessibility: Scramble

Depth: 30m

Length: 788m

Explorers: JCC - 1973

Survey: NSS - 1984

JU Ref: Text - pg 243; Map - pg 242

Entrance size: 12m W x 3m H

Entrance aspect: 140 deg true

Vegetation in general locale: Forest

Vegetation at entrance: Forest

Rock type: White limestone

Bedding: Massive

Jointing: Moderate

Speleothems: Stals, flowstone, sponge, helictites

Palaeo resources: bone breccia

Archaeo resources: None

Hydrology: Dry

Siltation: N/A

Sink: N/A

Rising: N/A

Stream passage with surface activity: N/A

Stream passage without surface activity: N/A

Dark zone: 95%. Entire northeast section. Part of west.

Climate: Warm, semi-humid.

Bats: >5000

Bat guano: Little

Guano mining: Occasional

Guano condition: Fresh fluff

Eleutherodactylus cundalli: Some

Neoditomyia farri: Many

Amblypygids: Some

Periplaneta americana: None

Cave crickets: Many

Sesarma: Undetermined. (Not present in bat-roost).

Other species: Gaucelmus cavernicola; Nesticidae fam; Troglopedetes jamaicanus; earwig (possibly Marava jamaicana); possible second species of cave cricket, other than just Uvarovella cavicola.

Visitation: Occasional

Speleothem damage: Some

Graffiti: None

Garbage: Some - entrance chamber and bat-roost

Ownership: Forestry Reserve

Protection: None

Vulnerability: High. One of the few relatively undisturbed bat-roosts in the Cockpit Country. Small-scale guano mining has occurred in the past and could resume in the future. For additional details, refer to the notes that follow.

Marta Tick Cave

May 6, 2005

Team: Stewart, Conolley.

Notes: RS Stewart

This would be the first of many days spent based in Quick Step. It is located relatively close to a number of the targets listed for the Cockpit Country Parks in Peril Project, these being the northern districts of Sawmill, with Marta Tick Cave and many others, and the caves of Aberdeen, Thornton, and Appleton. We know Quick Step well, and many of its people, and it is friendly territory for us. There would be no need for guides, since we are also acquainted with the bush to the north of the village where our targets would be found. In the south, the people of Aberdeen and Thornton are helpful by nature, and expect nothing more than a please and thank-you. Once again, we would stay at Joeanne and Hortense's, the third to last house on the Quick Step road, with beautiful views to the east, and coffee in the morning.

We'd arrived the night before, and at 8:00 AM, Ivor and I were heading north in the Rover, creeping slowly up the rough road, to reach the start of the Marta Tick trail, in Sawmill. With the load so light, we were soon there, and then began the trek to Marta Tick Cave, Stephenson Cave, and Bonafide Cave. This time, even though we had been on the trail several times before, it was very, very rough. It appears that no one had been there since Hurricane Ivan, and in short, it was brutal. In the past it has taken us less than an hour to Marta Tick. This time, it was closer to three hours. The trail had vanished under large fallen trees, and shrubbery encouraged by the openings in the canopy, and we had to bushwhack with a machete to make our own trail for much of the way (although we did find parts of the trail occasionally). It was much faster coming out, having the track to use that we'd made on the way in.

Our plan, as usual, was to do the furthest target first and then work our way back. This meant Stephenson Cave, and so after having passed the entrance to Marta Tick, and fighting our way through the bush-choked saddle to the north, we came to Stephenson Cave, and the associated Bonafide Cave. The assessment was done (with thorough coverage possible because both caves are high and dry), the previous GPS positions were refined, and then we returned through the saddle to Marta Tick Cave.

The scramble up to the entrance of Marta Tick is currently more difficult than in the past, courtesy of hurricane deadfall, but it is do-able. With the investment of a few minutes of exertion, we were able to reach the large entrance chamber.

Marta Tick Cave is made up of two very different sections that connect at the entrance chamber. Biological activity primarily occurs in the large breakdown chambers on the west side. These serve as roosts for a great number of mixed species of bats, as well as associated trog invertebrates. The northeastern section of the system consists of complex sponge on two levels, with entry via a 50 cm high crawl. Some bats are found, noted by us in the past, entering via unknown routes perhaps associated with the suspected Stephenson/Bonafide connection, but the biological activity is so limited, compared to the main bat-roosts, that we chose to spend our time in the large western chambers, rather than the north-eastern section.

Marta Tick Cave has been of interest over the years to researchers in a number of different fields. This is one of the sites where the Eleutherodactylus cundalli description came from. Biostratigraphic investigations of Quaternary vertebrates have taken place here. The bat-roost is known to have one of the more interesting assemblages of Chiropteran species on the island. Invertebrates have also been closely looked at in a biogeographical sense. In short, this is a valuable cave in many different ways.

Our own observations would be limited to the current health of the cave, as indicated by the following parameters:

1 - Degree of present human disturbance, including guano extraction;

2 -Approximate current bat numbers compared to past visits;

3 - Presence/abundance of troglobitic invertebrates;

4 - Presence of Periplaneta americana, the common American Cockroach. (This latter pest has been responsible for much damage to invert populations in Jamaican caves, and is a very important indicator of the future health of a system).

This was our third visit to this cave, the first having been in 2002. Using the criteria above, it can be noted at this time that

1 - Human visitation, especially for guano extraction, is less now than it was in the past. We know, from inquiries in Quick Step, that occasional small-scale mining has occurred, albeit on an infrequent basis. In 2002, a long, thin log that had been placed across a tricky slope by guano miners some years before, to assist their ascent, was old, and somewhat rotten, but would still serve its purpose. In 2005, it is now fallen and has not been replaced. There are no signs of recently abandoned scoops or bags that would indicate current activity.  There were no footprints in the fluffy deposits of the lower section (we took care to avoid disturbance ourselves). The track to the cave had obviously not been used since Hurricane Ivan, many months before.

2 - Overall, bat numbers still seem to be as high as in 2002 and 2003. The land-use pattern in the general vicinity of the cave has not changed, except for the better. Although there is much dead-fall from Ivan, logging in the district is now less than it was in 2002, no doubt thanks to the efforts of the Forestry Dept, which has responsibility for the land where the cave is found.

3 - The troglobitic invertebrate population indicates low levels of current disturbance. In particular, the Collembola species, Troglopedetes jamaicanus, tiny scavengers that live on the guano deposits, were on May 20, 2005, present in numbers estimated in the millions. They are currently found carpeting the richer deposits in patches of tens of square metres. (When one considers their size of about 1mm, and a density of about one Collembola per 5 sq mm, it is soon realized that the number of these critters is very, very large.) If the guano deposits were being disturbed on a regular basis, these vast colonies would not be present. In addition, two species of Nesticidae continue to be common in the cave. These spiders are a top predator, and reflect the general health of the food-chain below them.

4 - Most importantly, Periplaneta americana are still not to be found in this cave. The importance of this cannot be overstated. In our experience, we see a direct correlation between cockroach numbers and the presence of other trog inverts. In short, if there are roaches in a cave, we don't find many other invertebrates (St Clair Cave and Geneva Mountain Cave are good examples of this). We have noted in the past that the main vector for roach introduction seems to be guano miners and their fertilizer bags. The relative absence of guano extraction at Marta Tick Cave appears to confirm this.

The factors that lie behind the continuing health of Marta Tick Cave are believed by us to boil down to one thing - remoteness. The road that leads to the start of the trail is rough, and is a dead-end. Once at the start of the trail, it takes 45 minutes of hiking, when the track is good, to reach Marta Tick - when it is bushed-up and covered with hurricane deadfall, such as now, it takes two hours. To get to the entrance of the cave, on a cliff-side above the cockpit bottom, it is a five-metre scramble. This is not an easy cave for anyone to casually take bags of guano from on a regular basis.

Remoteness has also assisted the survival of Marta Tick in another way - the flora and fauna outside of the cave are in a relatively "natural" state. Although logging has taken place here in years gone by, agricultural use has been limited to certain cooperative cockpit bottoms, of which Marta Tick cockpit is not one. To the south, near Drowned Hole Gully, one will find old banana and coconut and wild yams, but the farming activity that introduced them ceased decades ago. At Marta Tick itself, and northwards into the depths of the Cockpit Country, it has seldom, if ever, been completely cleared, even in the cockpit bottoms. Seasonal flooding is apparent in the lowest areas, but the hills above are in as natural a state as one would normally find on the island.

Connectivity, in a biological sense, is a big factor in what lives both inside and outside of caves. Bats, even though opportunistic in their use of the underground, are one of the main sources of nutrients in a cave like Marta Tick. The bats flit in and out through the night, and dutifully excrete onto the floor of the roost in their off-hours. Upon this bat guano, fungi, microinvertebrates, and bacteria thrive. Scavengers, adapted to feeding in the dark, graze this bounty. The scavengers are in turn eaten by spiders, harvestmen, amblypygids, and others. The bats, and their excretions, in a cave like Marta Tick, that has no rafted detritus, are critical to the survival of many other of the creatures found here. If one removes the habitat outside that bats need to survive (thereby removing the bats from the cave), when the last of the guano deposits are used up, the cave flora and fauna will change drastically. In turn, if one disturbs a bat-roost to such an extent that the colony is eradicated, the role that bats play in cross-pollination of terrestrial flora in the vicinity if the cave will be reduced. We regard this recognition of the integral link between the biota of the outside, and inside, of Jamaica, as something that should be actively considered when human activities have the potential to alter conditions in either.

Biological investigations carried out by us this day found the most abundant invertebrate species to be: two spiders, Gaucelmus cavernicola, and another Nesticidae fam, that we are still working on identifying to genus; a Collembola, family Paronellidae, Troglopedetes jamaicanus; Neoditomyia farri (predaceous fly larvae); and fungal gnats, species undetermined. Opportunistic species included the Eleutherodactylus cundalli (a small frog that breeds in caves). It should be noted that the spiders and fly larvae, both predators, were present in good numbers (i.e. we saw them commonly in the cave) indicating healthy populations of their associated prey.

We are listing this cave with a high vulnerability. Our reasons for this follow: This is one of the few relatively undisturbed bat-roosts in the Cockpit Country. Historically, it has been of great scientific value, and in its current state should continue to remain so. However, this state is subject to change depending on several factors, chief amongst these being whether the track to the cave is improved, or is left as it is now. The cave, and track to it, is on Forestry Reserve land. This gives some protection, but it could also be a two-edged sword. If selective logging is allowed in the district near the north end of the Marta Tick track, access will become much easier, with a concordant increase in visitation for guano extraction. This would do great harm to the cave. We recommend that the present conditions on the approach to this cave not be altered, and would suggest that Forestry set aside a protected area around the entrance to a radius of 500 metres from the entrance.

We were now done for the day, having visited Bonafide, Stephenson, and Marta Tick Caves.

Before starting the trek out, the previous GPS position was confirmed with the accuracy repeating again at under +/- 5m.

The hike out, although much easier than the hike in, was still work, and we did not finally reach Quick Step until well after dark.