What did Mendel's findings about genetics add to Darwin's theory of evolution?

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In "On the Origin of Species" (1859), Charles Darwin argued that natural selection, in which an individual with characteristics conducive to survival has a longer lifespan and more offspring, was responsible for the variety of species. Gregor Mendel, the father of genetics, explained the process by which these favorable characteristics proceeded from one generation to the next.

The Problem of Natural Selection

Darwin did not know the mechanism for heredity, and in particular, could not explain how a favorable mutation could become widespread in a species.

Mendel's Research

Around the same time Darwin published his evolutionary theory, Mendel was performing experiments with pea plants, examining over 30,000 pea plants across eight generations to ascertain how a trait like height can be passed on.

Mendelian Inheritance

Though he did not use the term "gene," Mendel theorized that tiny, unseen particles passed on traits. Whether or not an individual pea plant was short or tall was dependent on the particular combination of particles (recessive and dominant) it received from the prior generation.

Rediscovery of Mendel

Mendel's work, published in the "Proceedings of the Natural Science Society of Bruno" (1866), was largely ignored, but in 1900, three individual biologists revived Mendel's research, mentioning him in scientific papers.

Evolutionary Synthesis

By the 1930s and 1940s, scientists began incorporating Mendelian inheritance into Darwin's theory of evolution, resulting in the "evolutionary synthesis." Mendel's laws explained that a mutation became prominent in a population if it was a dominant trait.

Source:

PBS: What Darwin Didn't Know

Brooklyn College: The Story of Mendel

Evolution: The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory; Edward John Larson; 2004

More Information:

Minnesota State University: Variation and Mendel's Laws

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What did Mendel's findings about genetics add to Darwin's theory of evolution?

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