Final answer:
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck is significant for being among the first to suggest that species change over time, proposing the inaccurate inheritance of acquired characteristics. Darwin, influenced by Lamarck, Lyell, and Wallace, developed the theory of evolution by natural selection, emphasizing genetic inheritance over acquired traits.
Step-by-step explanation:
Significance of Lamarck's Work and Darwin's Learnings
The work of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck was important because he was one of the first to propose that species change over time and suggested a mechanism for how species might evolve. Lamarck's theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics was later discredited, yet he recognized the significance of interactions between organisms and their environments in the evolutionary process. His ideas set a foundation for future evolutionary thought despite the inaccuracies in his proposed mechanisms.
Charles Darwin learned much from the early thinkers like Lamarck, as well as from geologist Charles Lyell and economist Thomas Malthus. Lyell's ideas on gradual geological processes shaping the Earth and its old age were significant for Darwin's perspective on the slow pace of evolutionary change. Darwin's own theory of evolution by natural selection was also confirmed by the work of contemporaries such as Alfred Russel Wallace, who independently arrived at similar conclusions.
Darwin's hesitation to publish his theory was due in part to its potential controversial nature and the need to gather extensive evidence. Lamarck's views differed from Darwin's in that Darwin did not believe acquired traits during an organism's lifetime could be inherited, which was a central aspect of Lamarck's theory. Darwin's theory was heavily influenced by his understanding of artificial selection and the pressures of the environment, similar to what Malthus described for human populations.