Question

If you were to debate Lamarck today about his theory, what core concept in biology would you rely o

Answer 1

Lamarck was strong on the inheritance of acquired characteristics but may have placed too much emphasis on this happening in a short period of time like perhaps a few generations. Charles Darwin showed that something similar happened by natural selection of varieties that were favorable to the survival of the species and the extinction of varieties that were not adapted to the natural conditions, but that this process took time but in the end, an organism can develop more favorable traits like mankind when he/she developed the apposable thumb which was an innovation that allowed him to progress from his ape ancestors. 

Answer 2

The correct answer is C) Traits cannot be chosen on will, but are randomly inherited from our parents.

The other options of the question were A) Organisms lacking favorable traits will become extinct. B) Mutations do not result in beneficial genetic variation. D) Environmental stresses cause organisms to change, regardless of their genetic make-up.

If you were to debate Lamarck today about his theory, the core concept in biology that you would rely on would be "Traits cannot be chosen on will , but are randomly inherited from our parents.

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-18299 was a French scientist that suggested the theory of Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics to explain the evolution process. The theory was known to state that an organism could transform itself and transmit the acquired characteristics to other generations. Then, people develop traits that they need and discard the ones that are not needed, based on a predefined plan. Lamarck set the case of the giraffe’s long neck affirming that giraffes stretched their necks to reach leaves on high trees. That is why they increased the size of their necks over time and this trait was passed to their offspring.