鸟类飞行起源的研究

Study on the Origin of Bird Flight

鸟类飞行的起源在过去几十年中是进化生物学研究领域的一个热点问题,先期工作主要集中在关于飞行起源过程中的进化路径(主要包括树栖说和地栖说)的讨论,之后开始关注与飞行起源过程中相关的骨骼、肌肉等关键结构的演化。本文对飞行起源的研究历史做了简要的回顾,并从上述两个方面对近年来这一领域研究中取得的进展以及存在的争议做一概要的介绍。

The origin of bird flight is a disputed issue in the field Of evolutionary biology over past decades. The initial study mostly focused on the discussion of the evolutionary path（e, g. ,the cursorial versus arboreal hypothesis）for bird flight, and more recently, more studies have been made concerning the transitions of key flight structure such as skeletons and muscles in the process of the origin of the flight of birds. A brief introduction of the history of the study of bird flight and a summary of some recent studies in this area are provided in this paper. Also, a summary introduction in the recent progress and existing debate from the two aspects mentioned above are given.