PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - D. Evangelista AU - S. Cam AU - T. Huynh AU - A. Kwong AU - H. Mehrabani AU - K. Tse AU - R. Dudley TI - Shifts in stability and control effectiveness during evolution of the Avialae support aerial maneuvering hypotheses for flight origins AID - 10.1101/001750 DP - 2014 Jan 01 TA - bioRxiv PG - 001750 4099 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2014/01/16/001750.short 4100 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2014/01/16/001750.full AB - The capacity for aerial maneuvering shaped the evolution of flying animals. Here we evaluate consequences of aviaian morphology for aerial performance (1,2) by quantifying static stability and control effectiveness of physical models (3) for numerous taxa sampled from within the lineage leading to birds (Avialae, 4). Results of aerodynamic testing are mapped phylogenetically (5–9) to examine how maneuvering characteristics correlate with tail shortening, fore- and hindwing elaboration, and other morphological features (10). In the evolution of the Avialae we observe shifts from static stability to inherently unstable aerial planforms; control effectiveness also migrated from tails to the forewings. These shifts suggest that some degree of aerodynamic control and and capacity for maneuvering preceded the evolution of strong power stroke. The timing of shifts suggests features normally considered in light of development of a power stroke also play important roles in control.One Sentence Summary The dinosaurs that ultimately became birds possessed long, feathered tails and feathers on their legs along with feathers on their forelimbs unlike the tails of living birds; both fore- and hindlimbs along with the tail could serve to control the animal in the air (like the tails on airplanes), and by tracing out how aerodynamic control changed through time, we show how aerial maneuvering was a major factor in avian evolution.