Question

Gregor Mendel was an Austrian monk who lived in the 1800s. Mendel made many important discoveries related to genetics and heredity by studying inheritance patterns in pea plants. He developed three important laws to help explain the gene inheritance and expression that he observed. These laws of inheritance are known as the law of dominance, the law of segregation, and the law of independent assortment.

How did Mendel's work increase scientists' understanding of natural selection?

Answer 1

the separation of one trait does not influence the separation of another trait.

Step-by-step explanation:

Alleles are different versions of the same trait. For example, brown alleles, green alleles, and blue alleles are different versions of the eye color trait.

All sexually-reproducing organisms possess two alleles for each trait. These alleles may or may not be the same (e.g., an organism may have one allele for brown eyes and one allele for blue eyes, or it may have two alleles for green eyes, etc.).

Gametes, or sex cells (egg cells and sperm cells), are formed during meiosis—a two-step process that only occurs in sexually-reproducing organisms. During meiosis, according to the law of segregation, chromatids that carry alleles are separated into different gametes. According to Mendel's law of independent assortment, the separation of the alleles of one trait does not influence the separation of the alleles of another trait.

Answer 2

Mendel's work helped scientists better understand how traits that can be acted upon by natural selection are passed from one generation to the next.

Step-by-step explanation:

Gregor Mendel is known as the father of modern genetics due to his extensive work in this field. His discoveries are still relevant today in explaining the inheritance and expression of genes. Additionally, his work helped scientists in other fields. For example, Mendel's work helped scientists better understand how traits that can be acted upon by natural selection are inherited from one generation to the next.