How do you tell commensalism from parasitism?

Look at each species separately and ask whether it is helped, harmed or not affected. In commensalism the other species is not affected, as with a remora and a shark. In parasitism it is harmed, as with a tapeworm and a dog.

Why does the predator population peak after the prey?

When hares are plentiful, well-fed lynx raise more young, but the young take time to grow. On the model graph in Predator and Prey Populations, each lynx peak comes 2 years after a hare peak.

6th Grade Symbiosis and Predators Worksheets

Ages 11-12 · Free previews · Print-ready PDFs

Written by Adi Ackerman, Head Teacher

Species in an ecosystem affect one another through close relationships and through predator and prey cycles. These two 6th grade worksheets, each with an answer key, cover both patterns. Symbiosis has students sort nine pairs into mutualism, commensalism and parasitism, and Predator and Prey Populations uses a model graph with sample numbers to compare hare and lynx peaks. The sheets practice MS-LS2-2 and MS-LS2-1.

6th Grade Science Ecosystems Symbiosis and predators Clear All

Predator and Prey Populations

Grade6th Grade

TopicEcosystems

Symbiosis

Grade6th Grade

TopicEcosystems

More ecosystems worksheets

Explore all of our 6th grade ecosystems worksheets, covering food webs and matter cycles, biomes and biodiversity, symbiosis and predators, populations and invasive species.

Food webs and matter cycles Biomes and biodiversity Populations and invasive species

Frequently Asked Questions

In mutualism both species benefit. On the Symbiosis sheet, a bee gets nectar and the flower's pollen gets spread, and an oxpecker eats ticks on a rhino so the rhino loses its pests.

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