Lamarckism

Lamarckism
The theory of acquired characteristics put forth by Jean-Baptiste P.A. Lamarck (1744-1829), a French botanist, zoologist and biological philosopher. According to Lamarck, evolution occurs because organisms can inherit traits acquired by their ancestors. Giraffes can only survive by eating leaves high up on trees so they stretch their necks to reach the leaves and this stretching of the neck is passed on to later generations. The basic tenet of Lamarckism has been rejected. Darwinism (the theory of the origin of species and the development of higher organisms from lower forms through natural selection, the survival of the fittest, and the evolution of humans from an ancestor common to himself and the apes) has prevailed, together with the principles of transmission genetics. Lysenkoism was a 20th-century Soviet version of Lamarckism.

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La·marck·ism lə-'mär-.kiz-əm n a theory of organic evolution asserting that environmental changes cause structural changes in animals and plants that are transmitted to offspring

Medical dictionary. 2011.

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  • Lamarckism — (or Lamarckian inheritance) is the idea that an organism can pass on characteristics that it acquired during its lifetime to its offspring (also known as heritability of acquired characteristics or soft inheritance). It is named after the French… …   Wikipedia

  • lamarckism — LAMARCKÍSM s.n. Teorie biologică după care evoluţia vieţuitoarelor se explică prin influenţa variaţiilor de mediu asupra comportamentului şi morfologiei lor şi care consideră că însuşirile astfel dobândite se transmit ereditar. [pr.: chism] – Din …   Dicționar Român

  • Lamarckism — La marck ism, n. [From Lamarck, a distinguished French naturalist.] (Biol.) The theory that structural variations, characteristic of species and genera, are produced in animals and plants by the direct influence of physical environments, and esp …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Lamarckism — Lamarckism. См. Ламаркизм. (Источник: «Англо русский толковый словарь генетических терминов». Арефьев В.А., Лисовенко Л.А., Москва: Изд во ВНИРО, 1995 г.) …   Молекулярная биология и генетика. Толковый словарь.

  • Lamarckism — [lə märk′iz΄əm] n. a theory of organic evolution advanced by Lamarck that claimed acquired characters can be inherited …   English World dictionary

  • Lamarckism — n. the theory of evolution devised by Lamarck, French botanist and zoologist (d. 1829), based on the inheritance of acquired characteristics. Derivatives: Lamarckian n. & adj. * * * noun a theory of organic evolution claiming that acquired… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Lamarckism — noun Etymology: J. B. de Monet de Lamarck Date: 1884 a theory of organic evolution asserting that environmental changes cause structural changes in animals and plants that are transmitted to offspring • Lamarckian adjective …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Lamarckism — A theory espoused by Lamarck, that evolution is brought about by volition or by environmental induction; Geoffroyism …   Dictionary of invertebrate zoology

  • Lamarckism — /leuh mahr kiz euhm/, n. the Lamarckian theory that characteristics acquired by habit, use, or disuse may be passed on to future generations through inheritance. [1880 85; LAMARCK + ISM] * * * …   Universalium

  • Lamarckism — noun The theory that structural variations, characteristic of species and genera, are produced in animals and plants by the direct influence of physical environments, and especially, in the case of animals, by effort, or by use or disuse of… …   Wiktionary

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