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The concept of evolution was first presented by:

Correct answer: A. Lamarck

  • A. Lamarck
  • B. Darwin
  • C. Wallace
  • D. Aristotle

Explanation

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck was a French naturalist who proposed the first fully formed theory of evolution in his book Philosophie Zoologique (1809). He believed that organisms could inherit the traits that they acquired during their lifetime and that this process was the driving force behind evolution. Lamarck's theory was not widely accepted at the time, but it was an important precursor to Darwin's theory of natural selection. Darwin was aware of Lamarck's work, and he explicitly rejected Lamarck's inheritance of acquired traits, but he was also influenced by Lamarck's ideas about the mutability of species and the importance of the environment in shaping evolution.

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About Evolution

Evolution describes heritable change in populations over generations through variation, natural selection and adaptation. Lamarckism explains inheritance of acquired characteristics, while Darwinism explains selection of favourable inherited variations; these historical explanations must not be confused with the modern genetic account of evolutionary change.

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