GATE Exam Syllabus 2020 for Ecology and Evolution
Ecology and Evolution (EY)
GATE Ecology and Evolution Syllabus: The Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) is an all India level examination conducted by the GATE Committee at eight different centres in the country. Here is the Gate 2020 Exam Syllabus for Ecology and Evolution subject. Check out the GATE Syllabus for Ecology and Evolution and other important aspects of the GATE Exam Ecology and Evolution Syllabus.
Section 1: Ecology
Population ecology; metapopulation dynamics; growth rates; density independent growth; density dependent growth; niche concept;
Species interactions: Plant-animal interactions; mutualism, commensalism, competition and predation; trophic interactions; functional ecology; ecophysiology; behavioural ecology;
Community ecology: Community assembly, organization and evolution; biodiversity: species richness, evenness and diversity indices; endemism; species-area relationships;
Ecosystem structure, function and services; nutrient cycles; biomes; habitat ecology; primary and secondary productivity; invasive species; global and climate change; applied ecology.
Section 2: Evolution
Origin, evolution and diversification of life; natural selection; levels of selection.
Types of selection (stabilizing, directional etc.); sexual selection; genetic drift; gene flow; adaptation; convergence; species concepts;
Life history strategies; adaptive radiation; biogeography and evolutionary ecology;
Origin of genetic variation; Mendelian genetics; polygenic traits, linkage and recombination; epistasis, gene-environment interaction; heritability; population genetics;
Molecular evolution; molecular clocks; systems of classification: cladistics and phenetics; molecular systematics; gene expression and evolution.
Section 3: Mathematics and Quantitative Ecology
Mathematics and statistics in ecology; Simple functions (linear, quadratic, exponential, logarithmic, etc); concept of derivatives and slope of a function; permutations and combinations; basic probability (probability of random events; sequences of events, etc); frequency distributions and their descriptive statistics (mean, variance, coefficient of variation, correlation, etc).
Statistical hypothesis testing: Concept of p-value; Type I and Type II error, test statistics like t-test and Chi-square test; basics of linear regression and ANOVA.
Section 4: Behavioural Ecology
Classical ethology; neuroethology; evolutionary ethology; chemical, acoustic and visual signaling
Mating systems; sexual dimorphism; mate choice; parenting behaviour Competition; aggression; foraging behaviour; predator–prey interactions; Sociobiology: kin selection, altruism, costs and benefits of group-living.