Biology · 10

Mendel's Laws of Inheritance: The Rules of Heredity

Gregor Mendel discovered fundamental laws explaining how traits are inherited. Through careful observation of pea plants, he established that inherita

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Why did Mendel choose pea plants for his experiments?

Pea plants have several advantages: they produce many offspring quickly, they have distinct traits controlled by single genes, they self-pollinate reliably, and they are easy to cross-pollinate manually. These characteristics made pea plants ideal for genetic studies.

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How did Mendel identify which traits were dominant?

Mendel crossed pure-breeding plants (homozygous) for contrasting traits. The first generation (F1) all showed one trait. Mendel designated the trait that appeared in all F1 as dominant. When F1 plants self-pollinated, a 3:1 ratio appeared in the second generation, confirming dominance.

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What is genetic variation and why is it important?

Genetic variation is the differences in alleles among individuals in a population. Variation provides raw material for evolution. Variation allows populations to adapt to changing environments. Without variation, populations cannot evolve and may go extinct if conditions change.

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