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<figure class="align-center zoomable"> <a aria-label="Zoomable image" href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/749998/original/file-20260724-57-6y3anj.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Field of rice plants" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/749998/original/file-20260724-57-6y3anj.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/749998/original/file-20260724-57-6y3anj.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/749998/original/file-20260724-57-6y3anj.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/749998/original/file-20260724-57-6y3anj.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/749998/original/file-20260724-57-6y3anj.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/749998/original/file-20260724-57-6y3anj.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/749998/original/file-20260724-57-6y3anj.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a> <figcaption> Rice plants are an example of Lamarckism in action. <a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-ripe-rice-field-plant-green-2313021241?trackingId=8f12fab7-8db6-435d-b0cd-9389b356a213&listId=searchResults">M Stocker</a> </figcaption> </figure>

Beyond epigenetics, the passing down of learned skills from one generation to another is also a form of Lamarckism. When killer whale mothers acquire the skill to hunt a different type of prey – for example, seals instead of salmon – this skill is copied by their offspring. This has been so reliable across generations and so profound that it even seems to have caused the formation of <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1620736114">different species of killer whale</a>.

Does this mean Darwinism is wrong? No, it doesn´t. Natural selection still accurately explains evolutionary processes a large proportion of the time. But as I argue in <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/63165">my new book</a>, The Selective Organism: an Expanded Theory of Adaptive Evolution, we could see Lamarckian acquisition of traits as a second driver of evolution, acting alongside natural selection.

Whereas in Darwinian evolution individuals in a species are a target of natural selection, in which their traits are tested by their environment, in Lamarckian evolution they’re an agent of selection, developing certain traits out of a larger set of potential ones. For instance, the C elegans worm could potentially produce a number of different RNA molecules (or none). Based on its environment, it selects molecules that help it to survive. In that sense, Lamarckian acquisition can be seen as a form of selection too.

<h2>How the theories combine</h2>

In my book I also make another argument. When an individual plant or animal is able to transmit acquired beneficial traits to its offspring as per Lamarckism, this should increase the offspring’s chances of survival and subsequent reproduction.

If so, this capacity should also be favoured by natural selection. In other words, Darwinism actually predicts that this Lamarckian capacity should evolve. This means that these are not competing theories but compatible ones, which together provide the best explanation for the evolutionary change of organisms.

Evolution by natural selection <a href="https://www.inf.fu-berlin.de/lehre/pmo/eng/Dennett-Darwin'sDangerousIdea.pdf">has been called</a> “the single best idea anyone has ever had”. Besides explaining the natural world, it has found <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/17524571">tremendous application</a> in other areas. It has helped us improve how we breed plants and animals, for instance, and how we combat the evolution of antibiotic resistance in microbes.

The Lamarckian dimension should only further improve these applications. If the exposure of organisms to particular soil, climate, parasites or predators can benefit their offspring, there may be new ways to improve agricultural production. The same goes for conservation: scientists in Australia are already <a href="https://www.aims.gov.au/research-topics/environmental-issues/climate-change/assisted-evolution#:%7E:text=Research%20at%20AIMS%20is%20currently%20investigating%20the,of%20their%20offspring%20across%20multiple%20life%20stages.">exposing coral</a> to heat stress in the laboratory to trigger epigenetic responses that make them more resilient to heatwaves.

<figure class="align-center zoomable"> <a aria-label="Zoomable image" href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/750001/original/file-20260724-57-jo6jvt.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Staghorn coral" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/750001/original/file-20260724-57-jo6jvt.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/750001/original/file-20260724-57-jo6jvt.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/750001/original/file-20260724-57-jo6jvt.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/750001/original/file-20260724-57-jo6jvt.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/750001/original/file-20260724-57-jo6jvt.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/750001/original/file-20260724-57-jo6jvt.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/750001/original/file-20260724-57-jo6jvt.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a> <figcaption> Lamarckian insights might make coral more resistant to heatwaves. <a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/coral-reef-off-coast-island-bonaire-2534127511?trackingId=df5f0975-e1db-4abc-97e5-d7e51ce71059&listId=searchResults">John A. Anderson</a> </figcaption> </figure>

And if human parental behaviours can influence obesity or addiction in their children, then prevention programmes help not only the people that receive them but also future generations.

So after more than 200 years it is time to embrace Lamarckism again, and include it into an updated and improved version of standard evolutionary theory.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/276549/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade" />

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/pim-edelaar-2601235">Pim Edelaar</a>, Visiting Professor, Division of Biodiversity and Evolution, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/lund-university-756">Lund University</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/universidad-pablo-de-olavide-1362">Universidad Pablo de Olavide</a>

This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/updating-darwin-biologists-are-returning-to-an-older-theory-to-explain-anomalies-in-evolution-276549">original article</a>. </div>

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