Unit 4: Heredity Study Guide
Materials:
 Textbook- Chapter 7 (pp. 328-333 & pp. 342-347)
 Lesson notes
 Class discussions
Vocabulary:
 characteristics
 inherited
 trait
 offspring
 inborn
 gene
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innate
instinctive behaviors
learned behaviors
dominant traits
recessive trait
chromosomes
Essential Question:
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Why do living things often look and behave like their biological
parents?
What Students Should Know:
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Genes are contained in codes of DNA and are transferable from parent
to offspring as inheritable traits.
Behavior is what an animal does and how it does those things.
Genetic traits can influence an animal’s behavior.
Behaviors that are influenced by genetic traits are called innate
behaviors or fixed action pattern behaviors.
The environment or experience can influence behavior.
Behaviors that are influenced by environment or experience are called
learned behaviors.
What Students Should Be Able To Do:
Explain what genes are and how they are passed from parent to offspring
as traits.
 Identify examples of inherited traits.
 Distinguish between learned behavior and inherited behavior.
 Identify examples of learned behaviors.
Explain the role genes play in how offspring look and behave.
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Unit 4: Heredity Study Guide
How Characteristics are Inherited
 An inherited trait is a characteristic passed from parents to offspring
o Eye color, Dimples, Hair color, Skin color, Freckles, Hair texture, Earlobe shape,
Right-handed/left-handed
 1857- Gregor Mendel experimented with inheritance
 Hypothesized that a characteristic is controlled a pair of factors
 Each parent passes one of its pair of factors to an offspring
 Mendel learned that traits can skip a generation
Dominant and Recessive Traits
 A dominant trait (shown with a capital letter)is a trait that appears.
 A recessive trait (shown with a lower case letter) appears only if an organism has two
factors for the trait
 If both a dominant and recessive factor are present, the dominant trait appears
 A Punnett Square is used to predict traits an offspring will show
Genes
 Today Mendel’s factors are known to be genes
 A gene is the part of the chromosome that contains the DNA code for an inherited trait
 DNA is a chemical that provides detailed instructions to the cell about every function of
life
 All inherited traits are controlled by genes
Instincts
 An instinct, or innate behavior, is a behavior that an organism inherits (passed from
parent to offspring)
o Eating, Sleeping, Bird making a nest, Cat grooming itself
 Instincts are usually shared by all members of a species or by all males or all females of a
species
Learned Behaviors
 A learned behavior is a behavior an animal acquires through experience
o Cheetah learns hunting skills, Goose learns to hide, find food, and fly, Walk,
Talk, Dress yourself, Bathe, Brush your teeth
Environmental Influences
 An environment is everything in an organism’s surroundings that affects it, including
water, soil, air, weather, landforms, and other living things
 When an environment changes, all the things that live there are affected
o Animals lose shelter
o Not enough food and water
 Sometimes changes in the environment force animals to change their behavior
o Eat different foods
 Environment can also cause physical changes in a species over time
 Pollution can damage chromosomes of living things and affect offspring