Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

Background and Aims: The xerophytic scrub in Mexico covers 40% of its surface and is the largest of all vegetation types. In Aguascalientes, it occupies 21.52% of the territory and has a strong degree of impact due to human influence. The objective of the study was to determine the floristic composition of herbaceous plants in two subtypes of xeric vegetation and to know the years of abandonment and type of crop that was planted, with the purpose of comparing the frequency and diversity of herbaceous plants in sites with primary and secondary vegetation in agricultural areas.Methods: Floristic inventories were conducted in crasicaule thornscrub and grassland with bushes, in sites with primary and secondary vegetation located in agricultural areas. The number of taxa was determined, the frequency of herbaceous species, alpha diversity (D0), Shannon-Wiener (H’), Simpson (D) and Pielou equity (J’) indices were calculated. A comparative analysis of the diversity indices was also carried out. Key results: Two hundred nineteen species herbaceous species belonging to 140 genera and 45 families are reported. In the sites with primary vegetation Bouteloua chondrosioides was the most frequent species and in secondary vegetation Eragrostis mexicana. The primary crasicaule thornscrub has the highest richness with 138 species and H’=3.49, the least diverse is the secondary crasicaule thornscrub with 98 species and H’=2.92. The primary crasicaule thornscrub has fewer dominant species with D=0.05 and J’=0.83, while the primary grassland with bushes and secondary crasicaule thornscrub have more dominant taxa with D=0.10 and J’=0.74 in both conditions.Conclusions: In the xerophytic vegetation of Aguascalientes, the herbaceous stratum has a medium diversity index; its composition, frequency and diversity are directly affected by agricultural impact. The information generated in this study can be used in the restoration of arid areas impacted by agriculture.

Background and Aims: Herbaria safeguard dried plants, their specimens contain important information and can be consulted and used in various research endeavors, teaching, and botanical dissemination. Advances in computer science allow for the rapid sharing of information and assessing the condition of a plant collection. The objective of this study was to evaluate the current state of the FEZA herbarium using the modified McGinley health index, and to identify the floristic contribution of the collection, by determining the states and years with the most collection records, compiling a catalogue of collectors and their list of vascular plants.Methods: A random sample of 446 specimens was used, representing 70% of the 20,204 records of vascular plants in the FEZA herbarium, and it was evaluated using eight criteria based on a modified proposal by McGinley and Villaseñor. Eight fields of the database were curated. The collection effort was recorded by the number of specimens collected in Mexico and the collection dates. Two catalogues were generated, one with the collectors with more than 100 records and another with the deposited species.Key results: The health index was 5.3. The collection effort was concentrated in the states of Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Michoacán, Morelos, and Oaxaca; the years with the most specimens were 2002 and 2008. There are 969 collectors, seven of whom have more than 500 specimens. The collection contains 5187 species of vascular plants.Conclusions: This study allowed for the determination of the current state of the collection, detecting problems in the handling of specimens and lost material, and updating the classification. Additionally, it offers a reference score for future comparisons. The FEZA herbarium recorded a greater collecting effort in Oaxaca; most of its records are from the present century. The collector and floristic catalogues will facilitate curatorial tasks.

Background and Aims: Asclepias is a highly diverse genus within Apocynaceae, with 78 species in Mexico, being the most diverse taxon of the family in the country. Due to its complex morphology and similarities in floral characters, some taxa have been misidentified. In the present work, a new species is described for the genus. Methods: Individuals were collected in the Sierra Gorda that could not be assigned to known species. National and foreign herbaria, digital databases, and specialized literature were reviewed to compare the collected specimens with similar species. Field expeditions were conducted in 2018 and 2023 to collect and monitor the phenology of the species of interest. The cohesive species concept was proposed as an explanatory hypothesis for the recognition of the taxa treated here. The conservation status was assigned following the IUCN criteria. Results: A new species of Asclepias is described, known from the states of Guanajuato and Querétaro, distributed in pine, oak, and cloud forests. It differs from similar species by its gynostegial corona with bell-shaped hoods of rounded base, and linear to linear-lanceolate cornicles emerging from the base of the hood. Photographic plates, a distribution map, and a comparative plate between similar species are included, as well as a dichotomous key with similar species and those distributed in the states of Guanajuato and Querétaro. Based on its reduced distribution area and impacted habitat, it is considered a species at risk according to IUCN criteria. Conclusions: In Mexico, Asclepias includes 79 species, reaffirming the country as a center of diversity for the genus. The new species forms a morphologically complex group with the species compared here, so it has gone unnoticed and been identified erroneously. The detailed review of morphology allowed suggesting these plants as a hypothesis of a species different from the rest.

Background and Aims: Mexico is the second diversification center of the genus Quercus with around 160 species, 60% of which are endemic. However, there is little information about their interactions with fungi, such as the richness of species of lignicolous asexual micromycetes (AM) on remains of oaks. The present study is a contribution to the knowledge of the AM species that develop on wood and bark of five species of Quercus in the municipality of Huixquilucan in the State of Mexico. Methods: Fifteen sampling trips were carried out during 2018-2019, collecting pieces of wood and bark, subsequently placed in humid chambers. Semi-permanent preparations were realized with the detected sporophores for their taxonomic determination through the analysis of morphological characters. Reference materials were deposited in the herbarium XAL of the Instituto de Ecología, A.C. in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico. Key results: Thirty AM taxa were determined; 28 of them represent new records for the State of Mexico and 13 for Mexico. Twenty species were detected in the wood, five on bark and five on both substrates. Conclusions: Twelve species (40%) are reported exclusively in lignicolous remains. The range of hosts is expanded for the 13 new records for Mexico, as well as for the lignicolous AM in the country (Q. laurina, Q. castanea, Q. rugosa, Q. crassipes y Q. deserticola).

Background and Aims: The genus Tilia (Malvaceae) consists of approximately 23 species with unclear boundaries between some of them, especially for the species and subspecies of North America. Although their leaf variation has been recorded, it has not been studied comparatively with other Tilia species present in Europe or Asia. The purpose of this work was to identify leaf morpho-anatomical characters that contribute to Tilia species differentiation. In this work we describe and compare the leaf architecture and anatomy of eight species and four subspecies belonging to the genus Tilia. Methods: Leaves of eight species and four subspecies were collected or removed from collections. Complete leaves were cleared and stained to describe their architecture, and their anatomy was characterized through transverse and paradermal sections.Key results: Results showed that leaves are variable in shape, margin dentate with first and second order teeth, secondary venation mostly craspedodromous and well-developed areole. Leaves were hypostomatic heterobaric and with three types of midvein. The combination of characters favored the recognition of species. For example, T. platyphyllos is characterized by teeth with narrower bases, T. mongolica is the only species with a deltoid lamina and without domatia, and T. caroliniana subsp. occidentalis is distinguished by the lamina with three teeth per cm and four-armed stellate trichomes with a length of 332 µm. A key is provided for species and subspecies studied. Conclusions: The different combinations of leaf characters are promising for the systematics of the genus Tilia.

Background and Aims: The family Poaceae is one of the most diverse and important groups of angiosperms in Mexico and the world. Its taxonomy has changed considerably in the last years, due to studies that incorporate molecular evidence. The aim of this work is to provide updated keys for the tribes and genera of Poaceae that have been recorded in Mexico. Methods: For the elaboration of the list of genera and construction of the keys, literature and specimens of Poaceae were revised, both in physical and digital collections. The most recent classification proposal for the family was considered. To facilitate the use of the keys, photographs of some structures useful in the identification of the group were taken. Key results: For Mexico 30 tribes and 214 genera of Poaceae are recorded, of which two genera are endemic and 51 are represented only by introduced species. Eight genera previously recorded for Mexico were excluded, since their presence could not be verified. A key and description of each of the tribes are provided, as well as keys for their genera. Conclusions: This contribution is an important advance for the knowledge of Mexican grasses and is a useful tool for the researchers interested in this group. However, there is still much work to do to achieve an updated revision of the group in Mexico.

Secularism (laicidad) in Mexico has been characterized by its anticlerical origin, liberal-radical ideology, and inclination for strict legal surveillance and control of religious expressions. Some authors report that such secularism is increasingly accepted among Mexicans. However, the high rates of religious affiliation in the country and the ambiguity of the statistical indicators used so far suggest that these claims may not be completely accurate. In this paper I problematize whether Mexicans agree with the model of secularism instituted in the country, looking at its specific policies. Using multivariate analysis techniques and data from the ENCREER/RIFREM 2016, I classify Mexicans’ attitudes towards secularism, breaking them down into four groups of religious self-identification: Catholics; Protestants/Evangelicals, Biblical, and Non-religious. I propose that among the study subjects there are four typical attitudes: 1) partial or strategic adherence, 2) systematic opposition, 3) “free market”, and 4) greater support. The group most opposed to Mexican secularism represented almost half of the sample 48%, while only 7% belonged to the subgroup most supportive of this type of regime. Beyond the acceptance of secularism, I argue that these results suggest its polysemy, as well as different ways of imagining religion in the public sphere.

This article shows the way in which the meaning of Hip Hop culture in Mexico has been configured as a worldview that is responsible for building the world. Starting from the definition of religion proposed by the sociologist Peter Berger, for whom it represents the company of building a worldview on the sacred, where the sacred refers to the mysterious power of a thing or person; It can be concluded that Hip Hop culture is a religion in the sense that it builds a significant configuration around the sacred idea of the party or the Block Party. Hip Hop culture is a proposal that emerged in the Bronx, in New York, at the beginning of the seventies and with the passing of time it has constituted a worldview called Planet Rock (product of the neighborhood party). From Planet Rock four artistic practices were configured: rap (singing), breaking (dance), graffiti (painting) and Djing (music); made knowledge (knowledge) the engine for the transformation and dynamism of all its elements; generated a FreeStyle method, which is playful and not gradual; he set up activities ranging from street fashion, street language, beat box and street market; built an ethical proposal that contemplates peace, love, unity and healthy recreation. This world built by Hip Hop is the product of a utopia that became a heterotopia, which is why it brings together the real and symbolic need to configure spaces where difference lives without colliding. This approximation to Hip Hop culture as a religion, which is presented in the following lines, is the product of multiple interviews conducted from 2014 to the present –especially with male and female rappers– mainly from Mexico City. The first approaches to the field allowed us to understand that the Hip Hop community in Mexico is making great efforts to try to understand and conceptualize the culture of the Bronx. This research tries to offer clues about how Hip Hop culture is currently conceived, starting from a foundational sense. In summary, Hip Hop culture is the construction of a world that can be expressed from a religious sense in Mexico.

The decline of Catholic membership worldwide is a process that has been accentuated in recent decades. Many factors can explain this historical constant: expansion of different religious options, both Christian and other forms of faith, the attitudes of the clergy towards issues of sexual diversity, the management of life (abortion or euthanasia) or the breadth of the concept of family, among others. In Mexico, this decline has been registered in the different editions of the Population Census, especially in the last three (INEGI 2000, 2010a and 2020), which reveal exciting data on the internal dynamics of change within the church: age group that mostly moves away from Catholicism, it is located in the segment of 30-35 years, and a drop in children and adolescents, which will have an impact on the constant decrease in Catholicism in the following years (INEGI 2020). Similarly, it is women more than men who renounce their Catholic affiliation. To analyze the decline of Catholicity in Mexico, the comparative methodology of census data was defined through statistical. Additionally, some surveys of values and political culture be analyzed to delve into why the members leave their church. The results reveal deep separation processes between the secular principles of the laicity and the moral guidelines of the clergy, between life attitudes and trust towards the church as an institution that administers the goods of salvation in modern and secular society.

The objective of this article is to analyze the progress of evangelicals in the Uruguayan political arena of the 21st century, focusing on understanding what agenda they promote, what are their political projects and their reactions, as well as the effects and transformations that both in the political sphere, as in the religious sphere, in the contemporary Uruguay. The situation of Uruguay is contrasted with that of its neighboring countries: Argentina and Brazil. Mixed research methods are used: taking data from the Latinobarómetro, the demographic weight of evangelicals in Uruguay and Latin America is illustrated; from a qualitative approach, 21 interviews with relevant evangelical political figures in Uruguay are analyzed. It is concluded that in Uruguay the political evangelicals coming from the biblical conservative pole (Pentecostals and Neopentecostals) are the ones who have the greatest role in the political arena, with pro-life and pro-family positions and against “gender ideology”. However, there are evangelical politicians from the historical pole with positions that are far from those assumed by biblical conservatives. The Evangelicals have not formed a political party or an Evangelical bench, since the Evangelical figures –although they are mostly in the National Party– are scattered in different parties and there is no organic coordination.