Evolutionary thinking 3

Question 1

what caused Lamarck to change his mind on evolution?

Answer 1

• the massive amount of fossil evidence
• and transitionary fossil forms

Question 2

What were Lamarck’s two ideas on the theory of evolution?

Answer 2

1. inheritance of acquired traits
2. Use and disuse

Question 3

what is the idea of inheritance of acquired traits?

Answer 3

• that individual changes were passed on to offspring
• this idea predates Lamarck, but he used this to explain changes in fossil records

Question 4

What is the idea of use and disuse?

Answer 4

• Lamarckian idea
• change occurs because of exertion or “stagnation”
• the more you use a part, the more it changes due to “erosion of tissue”
  ex. Tails could evolve into fins, if other areas were eroded and the tissues and cells were deposited elsewhere.

Question 5

Lamarck’s theory of evolution was at the level of the…

Answer 5

• INDIVIDUAL
• Lamarck’s ideas were local adaptive, theories, and dealt with the individual rather than the population

Question 6

What was Lamarck’s ‘complexifying force”?

Answer 6

• the idea that animals move from less complex to more complex via evolution
• Rejected Cuvier’s idea of extinction, though extinction did not exist because animals just evolve to be more complex.