Q.Who proposed the Germplasm theory? a) Darwin b) August Weismann c) Lamarck d) Alfred Wallace
🔒You're viewing a preview — the full solution, concept, methods & PYQ mapping are locked.
🔒 Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →Concept understanding — Lamarckism
Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck's 1809 theory ('Philosophie Zoologique') was the first formal theory of evolution, built on two principles: the theory of use and disuse (frequently used organs enlarge, e.g. the giraffe's neck; unused organs degenerate, e.g. limblessness in snakes), and the theory of inheritance of acquired characters (traits gained during an individual's lifetime are passed to offspring). August Weismann experimentally disproved the second principle by amputating mouse tails across twenty successive generations — every mouse was still born with a tail, showing that only changes to the germplasm (reproductive cells), not the somatoplasm (body cells), are heritable. Later **Neo-Lamarckist …
August Weismann proposed the germplasm theory, distinguishing heritable germplasm changes from non-heritable s …
Step 1. Weismann's mouse-tail-amputation experiment (twenty generations, all offspring still born with tails) showed that changes to body cells (somatoplasm) are not inherited.
Step 2. From this, he proposed the germplasm theory: only changes to the germplasm (reproductive cells) can be passed to the next generation. …
Link the germplasm/somatoplasm distinction directly to Weismann's …
- Confusing Weismann's germplasm theory with Darwin's natural selection. …
- CBSE 2026Set 57/1/11 markMCQQ.The idea of use and disuse of organs for evolution of organism was proposed by (A) Charles Darwin (B) Thomas Malthus (C) Hugo De Vries (D) Lamarck
›Reveal solutionSolution
The idea that the use and disuse of organs drives evolution was proposed by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, not by Darwin, Malthus, or De Vries.
To understand this question, you need to step back into the late 1700s and early 1800s, long before Darwin published On the Origin of Species. The natural world was a puzzle, and the first coherent, full-length theory of evolution was put forward by a French biologist named Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. His big idea was that organisms change over time because they actively respond to their environment.
Lamarck’s theory rested on two main pillars. The first was the law of use and disuse. He argued that if an animal used a particular organ constantly, that organ would become stronger, larger, and more developed over its lifetime. Conversely, if an organ was not used, it would gradually weaken and shrink. The second pillar was the inheritance of acquired characteristics — the belief that these changes an animal made during its life could be passed directly to its offspring.
The classic example Lamarck gave was the giraffe. He proposed that the ancestors of modern giraffes had short necks. As they stretched their necks to reach leaves on high branches, the neck muscles and bones became slightly longer. This "acquired" longer neck was then inherited by the next generation, which stretched its neck a little more, and so on, over many generations. The same logic applied to organs that fell into disuse — like the eyes of a cave-dwelling fish, which Lamarck believed shrank because they were never used, and this blindness was then inherited. …
- CBSE 2025Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.Who gave the theory of Inheritance of acquired characteristics?(a) Darwin(b) Lamarck(c) Mendal(d) Wallace
›Reveal solutionSolution
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck proposed the theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics.
Lamarck's theory of inheritance of acquired characters (1809), also called Lamarckism, states that organisms develop new structures or modify existing organs in response to a need created by their environment, and that such use-and-disuse based changes acquired during an organism's lifetime are passed on to its offspring. His classic illustration was the giraffe stretching its neck to reach leaves on tall trees, which he believed led to progressively longer necks i …
- CBSE 2018Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.'Inheritance of acquired characters' was proposed by(a) Darwin(b) Lamarck(c) Morgan(d) Mendel
›Reveal solutionSolution
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck proposed that organs used repeatedly during an organism's lifetime become better developed and this acquired improvement is inherited by the next generation.
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) put forward the theory of inheritance of acquired characters (also called Lamarckism, or the theory of 'use and disuse'). He proposed that body parts/organs that are used extensively become stronger and more developed over an organism's lifetime, while unused organs gradually degenerate, and that these acquired changes are passed on to the offspring. His classic (though now scientifically discredited) example was the giraffe's long neck, which he explained as resulting from ancestors continually stretching their necks to reach …
- CBSE 2018Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.The theory of inheritance of acquired characters was proposed by:(a) Charles Darwin(b) Newton(c) Muller(d) Lamarck
›Reveal solutionSolution
Lamarck proposed the theory of inheritance of acquired characters.
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck's theory (Lamarckism) held that characters an organism acquires in its lifetime — for example through use and disuse of organs, like the supposed lengthening of the giraffe's neck — are inherited by its offspring. It was later refuted by Weismann's germ-plasm work and by genetics, but it is historically important in NCERT Class 12 Biology evolution.
…
- CBSE 2016Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.Lamarckism was based on(a) Natural selection(b) Survival of the fittest(c) Inheritance of acquired character(d) Mutation
›Reveal solutionSolution
Lamarckism proposed that characters acquired by an individual during its life, through the use and disuse of organs, are inherited by its offspring.
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744–1829) proposed the theory of inheritance of acquired characters, also called Lamarckism, based on two main principles: (1) use and disuse of organs — organs that are used extensively become stronger and more developed, while those not used degenerate over generations (e.g., the long neck of giraffes was explained as resulting from generations of stretching to reach high foliage); and (2) these acquired changes are then transmitted to the offspring.
…
🎓Unlock everything free for 14 days
- ✓Full step-by-step solutions
- ✓Concept-first explanations
- ✓Methods, shortcuts & mistakes
- ✓PYQ mapping + timed mock tests
Full access for 14 days. No credit card required.