Sesson 1: Analyzing Pedigrees

Key Idea

Scientists are curious about the traits of living things. They might ask, "Is a bird's song passed down from its parents?" To find answers, they act like detectives and look for clues.

These clues are found in data, which is information collected about parents and their offspring. Scientists look at this information from many families, not just one. They search for patterns, like seeing if a trait appears again and again across generations.

Key Idea

Many young animals, or offspring, look similar to their parents. This happens because parents pass down their characteristics, or traits, to their young.

A characteristic that is passed down from a parent to its offspring is called an inherited trait. For example, the pattern of feathers on a White-Crowned Sparrow is a trait it gets from its parents. This is why family members often share similar features.

Key Idea

Scientists study families to see where traits come from. Some traits are passed from parents to their offspring and are called inherited traits. But not all traits are inherited. Some come from an organism's life, like what it eats or learns from its environment.

By looking at data from many parents and offspring, scientists can find patterns. If a trait shows up in most offspring that also have it in their parents, it is likely inherited. If the trait does not follow a family pattern, it might be from the environment.