Some methodological remarks concerning of karst studies from the system approach perspective

A systemic approach in scientific research, including Earth and environmental sciences, has a fairly long history (over 50-70 years). It has demonstrated a high effectiveness in research, and its use is becoming more and more widespread. The article considers selected methodological issues that concern the systemic approach in the field of scientific knowledge about karst (karstology) and caves (speleology), such as: karst as a system-forming factor, holistic approaches in karst research, karst ecosystems and karst geosystem approaches, research methods of white box, grey box and black box testing. The authors suggest that the systemic approach is useful in karstology studies and should undoubtedly be used and developed.