Basically he came up with an evolution theory before Darwin...According to him acquired traits could be passed on.
Let's look at an example:
Take a girrafe...why do they have such long necks? According to Lamarack long time ago the trees started getting taller and so the girrafes had to stretch their necks to get to the leaves. This caused an extention in their necks. And the long necks were passed on by the parents to their offsprings...u gotta remember this is Lamarack theory (NOT TRUE)!!
the evolution theory we believe in today is Darwin's. AFter Lamarack Darwin started studying evolution and figured out that the long necks evolved because of a variation in species and survival of the fittest. Basically according to him, long time ago their were short-necked girrafes and long-necked girrafes but as the trees started to grow taller only the long-necked were able to survive because they could get to the leaves..
The mechanisms for evolution. Lamark had a concept called acquired characteristics, an organism " needed " to evolve and any development of the organism, say developed muscles, could be passed on to progeny. Darwin's theory showed all organisms as variants and those with the best adaptions to their environment were reproductively successful and passed these traits on to progeny and over time the population evolved.
First of all, Lamarck's theory of evolution of new species was wrong (disproved by various experiments). It stated that new species emerged by the use and disuse of organs. This, he called The Theory of Acquired Inheritance.For example, the ancestors of Giraffes found that all lower leaves on the trees were exhausted. So they started stretching their necks to reach higher leaves. Over the course of evolution, their neck length increased and thereby gave rise to modern day giraffes.Another similar example would be that of snakes. The ancestors of snakes had limbs. But they 'disused' the limbs and over the course of evolution, snakes emerged by the loss of limbs.Its worthy to remember that only the DNA in germ cells is inherited to the offspring and not that of somatic cells. So lamarckism is basically wrong because the changes in organs cannot be inherited by the offspring.Hope this helps.
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
Darwin Which was the theory of evolution by natural selection. this is where the fittest species survive and pass on their traits. Lamarack which is the theory acquired characteristics . similar but wrong where it states animals will adapt and chage there thraist to fit in the environment and pass on their traits
"Inheritance of acquired traits", one of the implications of this would be that if an individual broke a bone and it did not heal correctly then that individual's children would likely be born with this "new acquired trait" of that bone already broken and improperly healed instead of having a normal bone in that location.
The mechanisms for evolution. Lamark had a concept called acquired characteristics, an organism " needed " to evolve and any development of the organism, say developed muscles, could be passed on to progeny. Darwin's theory showed all organisms as variants and those with the best adaptions to their environment were reproductively successful and passed these traits on to progeny and over time the population evolved.
Lamarck proposed that organisms change over time based on needs through "use and disuse". He believed in inheritance of acquired characteristics. Though this is an inaccurate idea, Lamarck was ahead of his time in that he understood adaptation was key to evolution in some way.
First of all, Lamarck's theory of evolution of new species was wrong (disproved by various experiments). It stated that new species emerged by the use and disuse of organs. This, he called The Theory of Acquired Inheritance.For example, the ancestors of Giraffes found that all lower leaves on the trees were exhausted. So they started stretching their necks to reach higher leaves. Over the course of evolution, their neck length increased and thereby gave rise to modern day giraffes.Another similar example would be that of snakes. The ancestors of snakes had limbs. But they 'disused' the limbs and over the course of evolution, snakes emerged by the loss of limbs.Its worthy to remember that only the DNA in germ cells is inherited to the offspring and not that of somatic cells. So lamarckism is basically wrong because the changes in organs cannot be inherited by the offspring.Hope this helps.