Re: Gliders to fliers

[dbensen <dbensen@gotnet.net>]

>>

My question: how does a critter go from 3 to 4?  What environmental stresses 
and what selection pressures are present in a glider lifestyle that would 
"force" a glider to develop fully powered flight?  Could a thinning forest, and 
larger distances between trees, provide the needed pressure for the transition 
powered flight?

<<

I believe Sankar Chatterjee hypothesized that proto-birds, at least, really 
refined their gliding powers into flight by diving from their perches into the 
water and then using their wings for propulsion.  This isn't as unlikely as it 
sounds, since Archaeopteryx, one of these protobirds, DID live on islands.  Oh, 
hey, the
adaptation of the front limbs to swimming might explain the 'limb decoupling' 
problem too.