Who proposed the theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics and highlighted the relationship between organisms and their environments, while suggesting evolution could occur in a lifetime?

• A. Lamarck
• B. Darwin
• C. Hutton
• D. Lyell

Answer: (A)

Inheritance of acquired characteristics is the idea being tested. It holds that traits developed through use or disuse during an organism’s life, in response to the environment, can be passed on to offspring, so environmental pressures could drive evolutionary change within a single generation. This view ties together how organisms adapt to their surroundings with a mechanism for rapid change, suggesting that what happens during one life can directly shape the next. In modern biology, we explain adaptation mainly through genetic variation and natural selection across many generations, rather than changes acquired in one lifetime being inherited. The listed alternative views come from different domains: one emphasizes natural selection as the driver of evolution over time, while others contributed to geology and Earth's history rather than inheritance mechanisms in organisms.