Jacana Jacana Research Articles

Satellite DNAs, heterochromatin, and sex chromosomes of the wattled jacana (Charadriiformes; Jacanidae): a species with highly rearranged karyotype.

Charadriiformes, which comprises shorebirds and their relatives, is one of the most diverse avian orders, with over 390 species showing a wide range of karyotypes. Here, we isolated and characterized the whole collection of satellite DNAs (satDNAs) at both molecular and cytogenetic levels of one of its representative species, named the wattled jacana (Jacana jacana), a species that contains a typical ZZ/ZW sex chromosome system and a highly rearranged karyotype. In addition, we also investigate the in situ location of telomeric and microsatellite repeats. A small catalog of 11 satDNAs was identified that typically accumulated on microchromosomes and on the W chromosome. The latter also showed a significant accumulation of telomeric signals, being (GA)10 the only microsatellite with positive hybridization signals among all the 16 tested ones. These current findings contribute to our understanding of the genomic organization of repetitive DNAs in a bird species with high degree of chromosomal reorganization contrary to the majority of bird species that have stable karyotypes.

Species and sex differences in vocalizations between sex-role reversed shorebirds, Northern Jacana (Jacana spinosa) and Wattled Jacana (J. jacana)

Species-specific vocalizations can act as a reproductive isolating mechanism between closely related populations. We analyzed vocal differences between 2 hybridizing species of sex-role reversed polyandrous shorebirds, the Northern Jacana (Jacana spinosa) and Wattled Jacana (J. jacana). We found that Northern Jacana calls have higher fundamental frequency and peak frequency than Wattled Jacana calls. We also compared calls between females and males, as both jacana species are sex-role reversed and females compete for male mates. Males produce calls with a higher fundamental and peak frequency and shorter notes than females. These results suggest that vocal differences between Northern and Wattled jacanas have the potential to act as a behavioral mediator of interspecific interactions, and that sex differences in vocalizations may relate to sex-role reversal in territorial defense and mate attraction.

Novel insights into chromosome evolution of Charadriiformes: extensive genomic reshuffling in the wattled jacana (Jacana jacana, Charadriiformes, Jacanidae).

The order Charadriiformes comprises three major clades: Lari and Scolopaci as sister group to Charadrii. Until now, only three Charadriiformes species have been studied by chromosome painting: Larus argentatus (Lari), Burhinus oedicnemus and Vanellus chilensis (Charadrii). Hence, there is a lack of information concerning the third clade, Scolapaci. Based on this, and to gain a better understanding of karyotype evolution in the order Charadriiformes, we applied conventional and molecular cytogenetic approaches in a species belonging to clade Scolopaci - the wattled jacana (Jacana jacana) - using Gallus gallus and Zenaida auriculata chromosome-specific probes. Cross-species evaluation of J. jacana chromosomes shows extensive genomic reshuffling within macrochromosomes during evolution, with multiple fission and fusion events, although the diploid number remains at high level (2n=82). Interestingly, this species does not have the GGA7-8 fusion, which was found in two representatives of Charadrii clade, reinforcing the idea that this fusion may be exclusive to the Charadrii clade. In addition, it is shown that the chromosome evolution in Charadriiformes is complex and resulted in species with typical and atypical karyotypes. The karyotypic features of Scolopaci are very different from those of Charadrii and Lari, indicating that after divergence, each suborder has undergone different chromosome rearrangements.

Differential introgression of a female competitive trait in a hybrid zone between sex-role reversed species.

Mating behavior between recently diverged species in secondary contact can impede or promote reproductive isolation. Traditionally, researchers focus on the importance of female mate choice and male-male competition in maintaining or eroding species barriers. Although female-female competition is widespread, little is known about its role in the speciation process. Here, we investigate a case of interspecific female competition and its influence on patterns of phenotypic and genetic introgression between species. We examine a hybrid zone between sex-role reversed, Neotropical shorebird species, the northern jacana (Jacana spinosa) and wattled jacana (J. jacana), in which female-female competition is a major determinant of reproductive success. Previous work found that females of the more aggressive and larger species, J. spinosa, disproportionately mother hybrid offspring, potentially by monopolizing breeding territories in sympatry with J. jacana. We find a cline shift of female body mass relative to the genetic center of the hybrid zone, consistent with asymmetric introgression of this competitive trait. We suggest that divergence in sexual characteristics between sex-role reversed females can influence patterns of gene flow upon secondary contact, similar to males in systems with more typical sex roles.

Genetic and phenotypic characterization of a hybrid zone between polyandrous Northern and Wattled Jacanas in Western Panama.

BackgroundHybridization provides a unique perspective into the ecological, genetic and behavioral context of speciation. Hybridization is common in birds, but has not yet been reported among bird species with a simultaneously polyandrous mating system; a mating system where a single female defends a harem of males who provide nearly all parental care. Unlike simple polyandry, polyandrous mating is extremely rare in birds, with only 1% of bird species employing this mating system. Although it is classically held that females are “choosy” in avian hybrid systems, nearly-exclusive male parental care raises the possibility that female selection against heterospecific matings might be reduced compared to birds with other mating systems.ResultsWe describe a narrow hybrid zone in southwestern Panama between two polyandrous freshwater waders: Northern Jacana, Jacana spinosa and Wattled Jacana, J. jacana. We document coincident cline centers for three phenotypic traits, mtDNA, and one of two autosomal introns. Cline widths for these six markers varied from seven to 142 km, with mtDNA being the narrowest, and five of the six markers having widths less than 100 km. Cline tails were asymmetrical, with greater introgression of J. jacana traits extending westward into the range of J. spinosa. Likewise, within the hybrid zone, the average hybrid index of phenotypic hybrids was significantly biased towards J. spinosa. Species distribution models indicate that the hybrid zone is located at the edge of a roughly 100 km wide overlap where habitat is predicted to be suitable for both species, with more westerly areas suitable only for spinosa and eastward habitats suitable only for J. jacana.ConclusionThe two species of New World jacanas maintain a narrow, and persistent hybrid zone in western Panama. The hybrid zone may be maintained by the behavioral dominance of J. spinosa counterbalanced by unsuitable habitat for J. spinosa east of the contact zone. Although the two parental species are relatively young, mitochondrial cline width was extremely narrow. This result suggests strong selection against maternally-inherited markers, which may indicate either mitonuclear incompatibilities and/or female choice against heterospecific matings typical of avian hybrid systems, despite jacana sex role reversal.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-014-0227-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Prey-capture efficiency between juveniles and adults, feeding habitat and abundance of Wattled Jacana foragers in northern Pantanal, Mato Grosso state, Brazil

The choice of foraging strategies implies an attempt at gaining energy by predators. Supposedly, the difference in employing the "sit and wait" or "active foraging" behavior lays in hunter skills, experience and the kind of prey consumed. With the hypothesis that "active foraging" demands no learning, in this study we compared the prey capture efficiency among Wattled Jacana juveniles and adults, and also present descriptive information about feeding habitat and the abundance variation of foragers throughout the day in the northern Pantanal. Prey capture efficiency did not differ significantly among juveniles and adults, corroborating our initial hypothesis that "active foraging" is an instinctive behavior and demands no experience to be effective. However, future work is necessary to compare the energetic quality of consumed items by juveniles and adults, searching for differences explained by adults' experience. Foraging individuals were found at an average distance of 14 m ranging from 2 to 42 m) from the margin of the sampled swamps, however 64% of the foragers were found closer to the margins. The average depth of foraging sites was 17 cm, ranging from 5 to 40 cm, although no preference for specific classes of depth was found (p > 0,05). Despite the accepted general pattern of birds being more active in the early morning, the largest number of individuals foraging was observed between 11:00 and 12:00 AM, but no significant difference was found in the abundance of foraging individuals among different periods of the day. Factors, which were not analyzed, such as food availability and presence of competitors and predators need to be studied to reveal the main factors of the spatial and temporal distribution of the Wattled Jacana.

Brazilian cleaner birds: update and brief reappraisal

Some bird species feed on external parasites, such as ticks and flies, on the body of mammals (hosts or clients). So called cleaner birds that occur in Brazil were reviewed recently, but gathering of significant new data indicates the need for an update and a brief reappraisal of such association. New records raise the number of known clients for some cleaning birds. The Southern Caracara (Caracara plancus) picks ticks on cattle, and the Black Caracara (Daptrius ater) picks ticks on capybaras. The Wattled Jacana (Jacana jacana) picks ticks, horseflies, arthropods and organic debris on capybaras, and tick-picking on capybaras by the Shiny Cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis) is substantiated by photographs. The Cattle Tyrant (Machetornis rixosa) deftly catches horseflies on capybaras, and these latter clients are recorded posing for the Giant Cowbird (Molothrus oryzivorus), which also pick parasites from the marsh deer. The Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) definitely picks ticks directly on cattle. With the new records, some poorly documented or controversial issues in the literature are here confirmed, a hypothesis is validated, and a suggestion is invalidated.

Division of labour in parental care behaviour of a sex-role-reversed shorebird, the wattled jacana

Jacanas represent the extreme in avian sex-role reversal. We studied the division of labour between the two sexes in parental care of the eggs and chicks in wattled jacanas, Jacana jacana , in the Republic of Panama. Males were the sole incubators of the eggs (515 clutches). Males were also the sole caretakers of chicks for 97% of broods ( N = 252). Caretaking activities included continuous close association with the young, leading them to foraging locations, brooding them during cold temperatures and rain, and maintaining nearly constant vigilance against threats of predation. Although females were also observed to perform all of these direct chick care behaviours, they did so very rarely (3% of broods) and only when the male was unavailable to provide such care himself. This happened either when females laid new clutches for males that were still tending dependent chicks, or when predators killed males, leaving broods defenceless and untended. The only regular contribution to chick care by females was providing defence against predators. The male was usually the first parent to detect a predator, but he recruited the female to join him in confronting threats that he could not deter alone. We conclude that, although males perform the overwhelming majority of parental care in wattled jacanas, females provide critical backup support. By displaying parental behaviours facultatively, only when the male is unable to provide them adequately himself, female wattled jacanas are able to enhance the survival of their eggs and young while typically expending only minutes per day in such efforts.

Size Dimorphism, Intrasexual Competition, and Sexual Section in Wattled Jacana (Jacana jacana), a Sex-Role-Reversed Shorebird in Panama

Size Dimorphism, Intrasexual Competition, and Sexual Section in Wattled Jacana (Jacana jacana), a Sex-Role-Reversed Shorebird in Panama

Size Dimorphism, Intrasexual Competition, and Sexual Selection in Wattled Jacana (Jacana Jacana), A Sex-Role-Reversed Shorebird in Panama

AbstractWe studied sexual size dimorphism, intrasexual competition, and sexual selection in an individually marked population of Wattled Jacanas (Jacana jacana) in the Republic of Panama. Males are the sole incubators of eggs (28-day incubation) and primary providers of chick care (50–60 days). Females were 48% heavier than, and behaviorally dominant over, males. Females also showed greater development of secondary sexual characters (fleshy facial ornamentation and wing spurs) than males. Both sexes defended territories throughout the year against same-sex conspecifics. Competition for territorial space was intense, and many individuals of both sexes did not become breeders. Resident females further competed with one another to accumulate multiple mates, resulting in a mating system of simultaneous polyandry. Female and male residents (territory holders) were larger, heavier, and more ornamented than adult floaters of the same sex. Larger and heavier females also had more mates than smaller females. Body size was thus a critical predictor of success in intrasexual competition for territories (both sexes) and for mates (females). Three measures of sexual selection—(1) sex difference in the opportunity for sexual selection, (2) female-to-male ratio of potential reproductive rates, and (3) operational sex ratio—each indicated that sexual selection is currently operating more strongly on females than on males (female-to-male ratios ranged from 1.43:1 to 2.22:1). Values of 1.61:1 and 1.43:1 represent the first published quantitative estimates of the opportunity for sexual selection for any sex-role-reversed bird. Our study supports the theory that when increased parental care entails reduced opportunities for future reproduction, asymmetries in parental care behaviors of the sexes can influence the intensity of competition for mates and the direction and strength of sexual selection.

SEXUAL CONFLICTS AND COPULATION PATTERNS IN POLYANDROUS BRONZE-WINGED JACANAS (METOPIDIUS INDICUS)

AbstractSperm competition was intense in polyandrous bronze-winged jacanas because females usually copulated with all their mates before laying a clutch for one of them. Females spent time with each male, but spent more time with the male that received the clutch ('receiver') in the immediate pre-laying and early laying periods, and overall gave more copulations to the receiver than to non-receivers. As receivers provided all the parental care, theory predicts that females should accede to male demands for copulations in order to assure them of their paternity so that they care for the clutch. Receivers may have destroyed clutches in which they gained a low share of the paternity. Conflicts occurred over the pattern of copulations because females were more likely to terminate male- than female-initiated sex events, and vice versa, and the proportion of sex events initiated by an individual and terminated by its mate was high for both males and females. Overall, a higher proportion of male than female initiations resulted in copulations. To test how these conflicts were resolved, I compared polyandrous groups and monogamous pairs. Male-initiated sex events tended to occur at higher rates and peaked later for polyandrous males than monogamous males. Males initiated sex events at higher rates than their mates, and the timing of copulations more closely matched that of male- than female-initiated sex events, suggesting that polyandrous females acceded to male demands for copulations. In monogamous pairs, copulations were less frequent (32 per clutch vs 97 in polyandrous groups). The duration and peak of the pattern of copulations more closely matched the pattern of initiations by females than males. However, both the timing of female-initiated sex events (mainly in the immediate pre-laying and early laying periods) and the high proportion of male initiations to which females responded suggested that copulations in monogamous pairs were also determined more by male preferences. Nonreceivers occasionally facilitated mate changes through tolerating intruder females and by territory adjustments (as described previously in wattled jacana Jacana jacana by Wrege & Emlen, 1998). Polyandrous females may have attempted to retain such males by giving them copulations and hence the opportunity for paternity (the 'sex for influence' hypothesis). Polyandrous females initiated sex events for a longer period than monogamous females, but did not do so at higher rates per male. Female-initiated sex events with non-receivers did not peak in the immediate pre-laying period (unlike those with receivers), and continued after the last egg had been fertilised. Copulations to guard against the loss of non-receiver mates may have been less important than copulations to ensure parental care by receivers, because all polyandrous females initiated sex events at higher rates with receivers and responded to a higher proportion of their initiations.

Cuckoldry as a cost of polyandry in the sex–role–reversed wattled jacana, Jacana jacana

In this paper we provide the first molecular genetic data on extrapair paternity in a simultaneously polyandrous, sexrolereversed avian species, the wattled jacana (Jacana jacana). Female jacanas o...

Breeding Behavior and Food Habits of the Wattled Jacana

Journal Article Breeding Behavior and Food Habits of the Wattled Jacana Get access David R. Osborne, David R. Osborne Department of Zoology, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Godfrey R. Bourne Godfrey R. Bourne Department of Zoology, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Condor, Volume 79, Issue 1, 1 January 1977, Pages 98–105, https://doi.org/10.2307/1367536 Published: 01 January 1977 Article history Accepted: 09 September 1976 Published: 01 January 1977

Notes on the Territoriality of Hammond's Flycatcher (Empidonax hammondi) in Western Montana

Journal Article Wattled Jacana Caught by an Anaconda Get access F. Haverschmidt F. Haverschmidt Wolfskuilstraat 16 Ommen, Holland Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Condor, Volume 72, Issue 3, 1 July 1970, Page 364, https://doi.org/10.2307/1366018 Published: 01 July 1970 Article history Accepted: 01 October 1969 Published: 01 July 1970