Final answer:
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck's views changed after observing the fossil records and studying the concept of inheritance of acquired characteristics. He proposed that traits acquired during an organism's lifetime could be passed on to offspring, leading to species change.
Step-by-step explanation:
French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck initially believed that species did not change over time. However, his views changed after observing the fossil records and studying the concept of inheritance of acquired characteristics. Lamarck proposed that traits acquired during an organism's lifetime could be passed on to offspring, leading to species change. Although Lamarck's theory was later disproven, his ideas were influential in the development of the theory of evolution by natural selection, which was formulated by Charles Darwin.