Gregor Mendel is considered the father of genetics for his work in the study of heredity. He did this by breeding pea plants with different traits and observing the results.
Mendel’s work showed that there is a particulate inheritance of traits. This means that each trait is inherited separately from other traits and that they are passed on through discrete units called genes, which are located on chromosomes.
Mendel’s work also established that there are dominant and recessive alleles for each trait. This means that some alleles are expressed more than others, or not at all, depending on their relationship to each other within a cell or organism.
Mendel’s work was the first to identify the role of genes in the transmission of traits. In other words, it was the first time anyone had shown that traits are passed down from one generation to another through genes.
Mendel’s work helped to establish the principles of population genetics. This means that genetic variations within populations can be analyzed in order to understand how those populations evolve over time and how they respond to environmental changes like natural selection (where only those organisms best suited for their environment survive).
