Overview

Biodiversity & Evolution in Ecosystems is a Grade 6 Science Lesson Bundle aligned to the Ontario curriculum, with 15 worksheets that guide students from evidence about traits to explanations of how ecosystems change over time.

Across this unit, students explore how heredity influences variation, how natural selection and adaptation shape populations, and how living systems respond to both natural pressures and human impacts. Worksheets support core learning goals such as systems thinking, modeling relationships, interpreting data, and using scientific vocabulary to communicate evidence-based claims. The sequence moves from foundational concepts (traits, heritability, niches) to real-world ecosystem dynamics (food webs, keystone species, invasive species, habitat fragmentation) and culminates with biodiversity measurement and classification tools (dichotomous keys, DNA barcoding).

Designed for classroom-ready instruction, this bundle provides consistent practice with reading, reasoning, and applied science tasks that mirror how students investigate questions in real ecosystems.

What's Included

• ✅ Heritability and Evolution of Traits Worksheets | Grade 6 Science – Students connect traits to heritability and use evidence to explain how populations change.
• ✅ Biodiversity Stewardship Strategies Worksheets | Grade 6 Science – Students evaluate actions that protect species and ecosystems while considering tradeoffs.
• ✅ Population Growth Models Worksheet | Grade 6 Biodiversity Science – Students interpret and apply models to describe how populations grow under different conditions.
• ✅ Pollution and Eutrophication Worksheet | Grade 6 Biodiversity Science – Students analyze causes and effects of nutrient pollution and its impacts on biodiversity.
• ✅ Fundamental vs Realized Niches Worksheet | Grade 6 Science – Students compare ecological possibilities to actual species survival conditions.
• ✅ Keystone Species and Ecosystem Cascades Worksheets Grade 6 Science – Students examine how one species can trigger ripple effects across an ecosystem.
• ✅ Dichotomous Keys & Multi-Access Keys Biodiversity Worksheets Grade 6 – Students practice identifying organisms using structured classification tools.
• ✅ Invasive Species Impacts and Spread Worksheets | Grade 6 Science – Students model spread patterns and explain how invasions can alter ecosystem interactions.
• ✅ Habitat Fragmentation and Ecosystem Connectivity Worksheets Grade 6 – Students explore how fragmentation changes movement, survival, and community structure.
• ✅ Food Webs Worksheets: Energy Flow & Species Interactions | Grade 6 – Students trace energy flow and predict how changes to one species affect others.
• ✅ DNA Barcoding & Genetic Classification Worksheets | Grade 6 Science – Students use barcoding ideas to support evidence-based classification decisions.
• ✅ Dichotomous Keys & Classification Worksheets | Grade 6 Science – Students strengthen classification reasoning with additional practice scenarios.
• ✅ Biodiversity Patterns & Measuring Diversity Worksheets | Grade 6 Science – Students measure and interpret biodiversity patterns using meaningful indicators.
• ✅ Adaptation Tradeoffs Worksheets: Specialists & Generalists | Grade 6 – Students analyze how adaptations create advantages and limitations in changing environments.
• ✅ Adaptations & Natural Selection Worksheets | Grade 6 Science – Students connect adaptation, selection pressures, and evidence of change in populations.

Skills & Standards

This Biodiversity & Evolution in Ecosystems unit supports Ontario science expectations by emphasizing scientific inquiry habits: using evidence, applying models, and communicating explanations clearly. Students work with core disciplinary ideas about inheritance, adaptation, and ecosystem dynamics.

• Modeling and analytical reasoning: interpreting population growth models; reasoning through niche differences (fundamental vs. realized); using food webs to connect energy flow with species interactions.
• Systems and interactions: explaining ecosystem cascades from keystone species; linking invasive species and habitat fragmentation to changes in biodiversity and ecosystem connectivity.
• Evidence-based explanations: making claims about how traits and environments influence survival and reproduction; supporting conclusions with worksheet data, scenarios, and comparative reasoning.
• Scientific communication and classification: using dichotomous keys (including multi-access keys) and genetic classification concepts (DNA barcoding) to identify organisms and justify classification outcomes.
• Human impact connections: analyzing pollution and eutrophication to explain real ecological effects; evaluating stewardship strategies grounded in cause-and-effect reasoning.

Perfect For

• Teachers seeking structured instruction
• Sub plans
• Homework or review
• Intervention or centers
• Assessment preparation

How to Use

Plan this as a focused single-unit study over about 1–3 weeks, depending on your pace and class schedule. Consider assigning one worksheet per class period or pairing shorter activities for differentiation.

• Warm-ups: start each class with a brief scenario prompt tied to the day’s system (e.g., “Which niche fits the species, and why?” or “What happens to a food web if one population declines?”).
• Guided practice: model how to read and use a key (dichotomous or multi-access) or how to interpret a population model before students complete the worksheet questions.
• Exit tickets and review: use quick evidence-based prompts after adaptation, niching, or biodiversity measurement lessons, then finish with an end-of-unit review that combines classification and ecosystem reasoning.

Closing

Build a clear progression from traits and natural selection to biodiversity patterns, classification tools, and ecosystem change with this Ontario-aligned Grade 6 Science lesson set. 🌿