Final answer:
Gregor Mendel used the garden pea, Pisum sativum, for his studies on inheritance because it is a true-breeding plant that self-fertilizes, allowing for clear observation of inherited traits. He chose easily observable traits such as pod color and seed shape for his experiments and established the fundamental principles of heredity through his work.
Step-by-step explanation:
Johann Gregor Mendel, known as the father of modern genetics, used the garden pea, Pisum sativum, for his groundbreaking experiments on inheritance patterns. The selection of pea plants was strategic because they are naturally self-fertilizing, leading to highly inbred, or true-breeding, lines.
This means that the pea plants would reliably produce offspring with traits that matched the parent, avoiding any unexpected variations. Mendel's use of true-breeding plants was crucial in discovering how traits are inherited, as it allowed him to observe the patterns of inheritance more clearly.
Also, the pea plant's traits, such as pod color and seed shape, were easily observable, which facilitated the identification of different phenotypes. He spent over eight years studying over 28,000 plants conducting experiments and devising what is now known as a monohybrid cross to study a single trait.
His rigorous methodologies and large sample sizes led to results that mirrored what would be expected by probability laws, further validating his findings. Mendel's contributions laid the foundation for classical genetics, even though he did not live to see the scientific community recognize his work, which was rediscovered at the turn of the 20th century, well after his death.