Which of the following statements is not Lamarck's postulate on evolution?
Answer Details
The statement that is not Lamarck's postulate on evolution is "survivors in a competitive community must have inherited useful traits."
Lamarck's theory of evolution, also known as Lamarckism, proposed that organisms can change during their lifetime by adapting to their environment and that these changes can be passed down to their offspring. This idea is often summarized in the phrase "use it or lose it," which means that organs that are used frequently become stronger and better developed, while those that are not used may become vestigial or disappear altogether.
Lamarck also believed that the changes an organism acquired during its lifetime could be passed down to its offspring, which is known as the inheritance of acquired characteristics. For example, if a giraffe stretched its neck to reach high branches and kept doing so throughout its life, it would develop a longer neck and pass this trait down to its offspring.
Lamarck did not, however, explicitly state that survivors in a competitive community must have inherited useful traits. This idea is more closely associated with Darwin's theory of natural selection, which suggests that organisms with advantageous traits are more likely to survive and reproduce, passing these traits on to their offspring.