Science 3—1 What is heredity?
Traits You can make a list of characteristics about yourself. Your list might include the following
characteristics: blue eyes, black hair, 5 feet tall. It is unlikely that another student would list the same
exact characteristics. This is because each person is unique. The characteristics you might include on
your list are called traits. Traits are the characteristics or an organism.
Identifying Traits You may look like your mother, your father, or a mixture of both your parents.
Children often look like their parents or grandparents in some way.
There is a reason for this. During fertilization, male and female sex cells join together. Each of these
sex cells contains material that affects the development of the offspring. Traits that are passed from
parents to their offspring are called inherited traits. Eye color is an example of an inherited trait.
Heredity When living things produce offspring, they pass on traits to them. The passing of traits from
parents to their offspring is called heredity. The field of biology that studies heredity is called genetics.
One of the first people to study heredity was Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk. Mendel studied
how traits in pea plants are passed from one generation to the next. Gregor Mendel often is called the
Father of Genetics.
Write true if the statement is true. If the statement is false, change the underlined term to make the
statement true.
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1. Characteristics of an organism are called genetics.
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2. Genetics is the study of heredity.
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3. The passing of traits from parent to offspring is called reproduction.
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4. Traits that are passed from parents to their offspring are called acquired
traits.
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5. Eye color is an example of an inherited trait.
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6. The first person to study heredity was Gregor Monk.
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7. During heredity, male and female sex cells join together.
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8. Mendel is often called the father of genetics.