Question

What were Lamarck's ideas about evolution, and why were those ideas incorrect?

a) Lamarck believed in natural selection, which is now accepted as the correct theory of evolution.
b) Lamarck proposed that acquired traits could be inherited, which is incorrect based on modern genetic understanding.
c) Lamarck's ideas were correct and remain the foundation of modern evolutionary biology.
d) Lamarck's ideas were the same as Charles Darwin's, but he didn't receive credit for his work.

Answer 1

Lamarck's idea that acquired traits can be inherited, known as the inheritance of acquired characteristics, has been disproven by modern genetics. Darwin's theory of natural selection is the accepted mechanism of evolution.

Step-by-step explanation:

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck proposed a theory of evolution that differs from Charles Darwin's theory. Lamarck's key idea, known as the inheritance of acquired characteristics, suggested that traits developed by parents during their lifetime could be passed on to their offspring. For example, he suspected that giraffes developed long necks because their ancestors stretched their necks to reach higher leaves and this trait was inherited by the next generation. However, modern genetics has shown that acquired traits cannot be inherited in the way Lamarck proposed. Instead, Darwin's theory of natural selection is now accepted as the correct mechanism of evolution, where genetic variations that confer an advantage to an organism are more likely to be passed down due to differential survival and reproduction.