regiones con selvas bajas en México. El trabajo se realizó entre junio de 2005 y octubre de 2006, registrando 113 especies pertenecientes a 13 órdenes y 34 familias; 6 especies son muy abundantes, 10 abundantes, 20 comunes, 32 poco comunes y 37 raras; 79 de las especies registradas fueron residentes, 28 visitantes invernales, 2 visitantes de verano, 3 transitorias y 5 residentes con movimientos estacionales; 15 especies son endémicas a México y 23 están dentro de alguna categoría de riesgo. La avifauna estudiada representa una mezcla de especies características de la cuenca del Balsas, las vertientes pacífi ca y atlántica y los ambientes montanos y áridos del centro de México. Por su composición específi ca la avifauna estudiada se relacionó con las avifaunas de la cuenca del Balsas. La selva baja del cañón del Sabino es prioritaria para la conservación debido a su riqueza en especies endémicas y a la presencia una colonia reproductora de la guacamaya verde, Ara militaris, especie globalmente amenazada. Palabras clave: avifauna, cañada del río Sabino,
Microbiological bioassays of nitrification and nitrogen mineralization have been used for evaluation of soil quality on metal-contaminated soils. We evaluated the effectiveness of nitrification and nitrogen mineralization bioassays as quality indicators of soil degradation caused by metal contamination. We performed standard tests based on protocols of ISO 14238 (2012) and ISO 15685 (2012) on 90 soil samples collected from agricultural areas in central Chile that were historically contaminated by mining activities. Potential nitrification rate (PNR) was best explained by pH and organic matter content (OM) (R 2 =0.32), while nitrogen mineralization (Nmin) was best explained by OM and clay content (R 2 =0.44). Following normalization of the bioassays responses with respect to OM yielded significant correlations between PNR and pH and total Cu content (R 2 =0.22), and between Nmin and clay and total Cu contents (R 2 =0.19). However, inasmuch as total Cu content improved the regression model showing the inhibitory effect of Cu in both bioassays, it accounted for a mere small proportion of the variance. This was despite the wide range of Cu contents in the soils studied (51-2878 mg kg -1 ). Hence, due to the known sensitivity of the nitrification and nitrogen mineralization process to physicochemical characteristics of soils, these bioassays seem to have limited applicability for metal toxicity assessment in metalcontaminated soils.
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