1. Heredity Heredity Defined The passing of traits from parents to offspring – Traits make you look the way you do Gregor Mendel did extensive research with heredity in the early 1800’s – Mendel was a monk who worked with pea plants in his monastery’s garden – Known as the father of heredity for what he discovered

2. Characteristics A feature that has different forms in a population – Hair color is an example Different forms of a characteristic are called traits Mendel studied three characteristics in pea plants – Seed Shape (round or wrinkled) – Plant Height (tall or short) – Flower color (purple or white)

3. Dominant and Recessive Traits Mendel discovered that there were two types of traits: Dominant and Recessive Dominant traits were traits that were seen a lot in both parent and offspring plants Recessive traits are passed from parent to offspring but were rarely seen Both dominant and recessive traits can be passed from parent to offspring

4. People and Traits People have dominant traits such as brown hair which is very common. Red hair would be recessive since it is very rare in humans Our hair color is determined by what traits our parents pass onto us