Biogas produced from agricultural and forestry waste is emerging as a strategic and multifunctional solution to address climate change, inefficient waste management, and the need for renewable energy by transforming large volumes of biomass. Global estimates indicate that approximately 1.3 billion tons of waste is produced each year for these sectors; this waste is processed through anaerobic digestion, allowing it to be transformed into energy and biofertilizers. This reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90%, promotes rural development, improves biodiversity, and prevents environmental risks, such as forest fires. However, despite its high global technical potential, which is estimated at 8000 TWh per year, its use remains limited as a result of its high initial costs, low efficiency in relation to lignocellulosic waste, and weak regulatory frameworks, especially in countries like Mexico, which use less than 5% of their available biomass. In response, emerging technologies, such as co-digestion with microalgae, integrated biorefineries, and artificial intelligence tools, are opening up new avenues for overcoming these barriers under a comprehensive approach that combines science, technology, and community participation. Therefore, biogas is positioned as a key pillar for a circular, fair, and resilient bioeconomy, promoting energy security and advancing toward a just and environmentally responsible future.

El objetivo del presente estudio fue definir la diversidad, composición, estructura y contenido de carbono almacenado en la masa arbórea incoetánea de una parcela de investigación en el noroeste de México. Se realizó un censo del componente arbóreo en una superficie de 11.44 ha en el ejido Aboreachi, Guachochi, Chihuahua. Cada individuo se etiquetó de forma consecutiva; se registró el diámetro normal, altura total y especie. Se calculó el Índice de Diversidad de Shannon-Wiener y el Índice de Riqueza de Margalef. La estructura horizontal se caracterizó con el Índice de Valor de Importancia. Se determinó el índice de Pretzsch (A) para evaluar la estructura vertical. El volumen total árbol de cada individuo y su respectiva biomasa se obtuvo mediante ecuaciones alométricas; el contenido de carbono aéreo se determinó al aplicar un factor de conversión a la biomasa de 0.5. La masa arbórea está constituida por 16 especies, pertenecientes a seis géneros de cinco familias. Pinus durangensis presentó el mayor Índice de Valor de Importancia (55.93 %). Respecto a la estructura vertical, P. durangensis fue la única especie registrada en los tres estratos evaluados, con 49.86 % de las observaciones realizadas. Los taxones de Pinus y Quercus aportaron las mayores existencias de volumen (155.53 m3 ha-1). Se calculó un total de 93.22 Mg ha-1 de biomasa aérea; a P. durangensis correspondió 64.46 %, Pinus ayacahuite 14.13 % y Quercus sideroxyla 12.33 % del total. El taxón con más acumulación de carbono fue P. durangensis, con un total de 30.04 Mg ha-1.

Nitrogen is essential for plants’ growth, yield, and crop quality, and its deficiency limits food production worldwide. In addition, excessive fertilization and inefficient use of N can increase production costs and cause environmental problems. A possible solution to this problem is the application of biofertilizers, which improve N assimilation and increase biomass and yield. Therefore, the objective of this research was to evaluate the impact of the application of a combination of green and red algae (Ulva lactuca and Solieria spp.), Rhizobium sp., Trichoderma asperellum, and the combination of the above three biofertilizers on N assimilation. A completely randomized design was performed, with 10 plants per treatment and five treatments: T1 = control; T2 = algal extracts; T3 = Rhizobium sp.; T4 = T. asperellum; T5 = T2 + T3 + T4. Our analyses showed that the biofertilizers’ application was better than the control. The application of Rhizobium sp. had the best performance amongst all of the biofertilizers, with the highest nitrate reductase activity in maize leaves, which enhanced photosynthesis, increasing biomass and yield. The use of Rhizobium sp. showed increases in biomass (13.4%) and yield (11.82%) compared to the control. This research shows that biofertilizers can be a key component for sustainable agricultural practices.

The Cerro Mohinora Protected Natural Area (PNA) located in Guadalupe y Calvo, Chihuahua, Mexico has ecosystems in a good state of conservation that include trees of genera such as Picea, Abies and Pseudotsuga. The objective was to determine the willingness to pay (WTP) by the visitors through the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) in order to conserve the environmental services (SA) provided by the area and to know their perception of the current state of the Hill. 210 surveys were carried out to simulate a hypothetical market, where they asked what is the maximum amount they would be willing to pay to preserve and/or improve the SA of the PNA. The main results show that 90.48% of the visitors gave a positive WTP, 48.57% of the visitors are local and 55.24% have a university degree. 60.48% of the visitors do ecotourism on the Hill. The main suggestion to improve the area was the maintenance of the roads (55.00%) and the provision of more environmental education (32.69%). The only variable that influenced a positive WTP and that was statistically significant was the “Perception of good ecosystem quality (PGEQ)”. The average WTP calculated was 90.48 MXN, with a minimum and maximum of 68.12 MXN and 97.60 MXN, respectively, and a standard deviation of 5.55 MXN. The WTP should be established according to the number of visitors and use of the place, considering that it currently has no cost and that most visitors are willing to pay to enter and show concern for conservation.

En esta investigación se planteó determinar el rendimiento de madera aserrada y la distribución de clases de pino en función de la especie, dimensión y calidad de la troza. Se analizaron 101 trozas de pino clasificadas con la NMX-C-359-1988, tomando datos de especie, clase, diámetro, conicidad y longitud. Se contabilizaron los productos obtenidos y se clasificaron con la NMX-C-224-ONNCCE-2001, en aras de determinar el rendimiento volumétrico por troza. Se realizaron pruebas de homogeneidad de varianzas, ANOVA, de Shapiro-Wilk y de correlación de Pearson con una significancia ≤ 0.05. Se encontró que, cuanto mayor sea el diámetro de la troza y menor la conicidad, el rendimiento por clases de madera aserrada incrementa. La calidad de la troza presenta un efecto altamente significativo en la calidad de la madera aserrada. Las variables mencionadas son buenos predictores para estimar el rendimiento volumétrico y la proporción de clases de madera aserrada de pino.

NDVI elucidates the ecophysiological mechanisms faced by vegetation. With the flexibility and versatility of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), temporal, spatial and spectral resolutions have been useful in supporting decision-making. Here, we modeled diurnal change in the NDVI derived from UAV imagery for individual trees in a natural forest stand. Eight flights were conducted during daylight hours over one day to assess the dynamics of the NDVI of the genera Pinus, Juniperus, and Quercus. The results showed unstable NDVI values over time, with a parabolic quadratic trend in the model. The NDVI reached its maximum around 13:00 h and the values differed significantly according to genus: the highest value was found in Pinus with significant differences presented with Juniperus and Quercus, which showed similar values between them (p=0.533). As a validation strategy, we test the model generated using 124 trees independent of those that were sampled, which strengthened our results in terms of reliability. The similarities of statistical parameters confer a high variability of application of the results in models of simulation of similar forests ecosystems. We recommend to study more spectral indices of vegetation, including calibration of the sensor, particularly in longer-term seasonal studies. We conclude that the NDVI measured using UAV should consider image acquisition time to calibrate the records and thus improve the interpretation of results.