GATE 2025 syllabus for Ecology and Evolution (EY) gives you details of the latest GATE syllabus for the subject released by the official gate organizing institute IIT Roorkee for 2025. We also created an easy-to-use ad-free mobile app for GATE syllabus, previous year papers with keys, gate calculator, virtual calculator, and more. Download iStudy App for all GATE preparation needs.
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GATE 2025 Ecology and Evolution Syllabus (EY)
Section 1: Ecology
Fundamental concepts
Abiotic and biotic components; scales (population, species, community, ecosystems, biomes); niches and habitats
Population ecology
Population growth rates (density dependent/independent); metapopulation ecology (colonization, persistence, extinction, patches, sources, sinks); age-structured populations
Interactions
Types (mutualism, symbiosis, commensalism, competition, parasitism, predation, etc); ecophysiology (physiological adaptations to abiotic environment); preypredator interactions (Lotka-Voltera equation etc)
Community ecology
Community assembly, organization and succession; species richness, evenness and diversity indices, species-area relationships; theory of island biogeography
Ecosystems structure and function
trophic levels and their interactions; nutrient cycles; primary and secondary productivity
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Section 2: Evolution
History of Evolutionary thought
Lamarckism; Darwinism; Modern Synthesis
Fundamentals
Variation; heritability; natural selection; fitness and adaptation; types of selection (stabilizing, directional, disruptive)
Diversity of life
Origin and history of life on earth; diversity and classification of life; systems of classification (cladistics and phenetics)
Life history strategies
Allocation of resources; tradeoffs; r/K selection; semelparity and iteroparity
Interactions
Co-evolution (co-adaptations, arms race, Red Queen hypothesis, cospeciation); prey-predator interactions (mimicry, crypsis, etc)
Population and Quantitative genetics
Origins of genetic variation; Mendelian genetics; Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium; drift; selection (one-locus two-alleles model); population genetic structure (panmixia, gene flow, FST); polygenic traits; gene-environment interactions (phenotypic plasticity); heritability
Molecular evolution and phylogenetics
Neutral theory; molecular clocks; rates of evolution; phylogenetic reconstruction; molecular systematics
Macroevolution
Species concepts and speciation; adaptive radiation; convergence; biogeography
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: Behavioral Ecology
Classical Ethology
Instinct; fixed action patters; imprinting; learnt behavior; proximate and ultimate questions
Sensory ecology
Neuroethology; communication (chemical, acoustic and visual signaling); recognition systems
Foraging ecology
Foraging behavior; optimal foraging theory
Reproduction
Cost of sex; sexual dimorphism; mate choice; sexual selection (runaway selection, good-genes, handicap principle, etc); sexual conflict; mating systems; parental care
Social living
Costs and benefits of group-living (including responses to predators); effect of competition (scramble and contest) on group formation; dominance relationships; eusociality; kin selection; altruism; reciprocity; human behavior
Section 5: Applied Ecology & Evolution
Biodiversity and conservation
Importance of conserving biodiversity; ecosystem services; threats to biodiversity; invasive species; in-situ conservation (endemism, biodiversity hotspots, protected areas); ex-situ conservation; conservation genetics (genetic diversity, inbreeding depression); DNA fingerprinting and DNA barcoding
Disease ecology and evolution
Epidemiology; zoonotic diseases; antibiotic resistance; vector control
Plant and animal breeding
Marker assisted breeding; genetic basis of economically important traits
Global climate change
Causes; consequences; mitigation
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GENERAL APTITUDE (Common for all branches)
Verbal Aptitude
Basic English Grammar
Tenses, articles, adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions, verb-noun agreement, and other parts of speech
Basic Vocabulary
Words, idioms, and phrases in context
Reading and Comprehension
Narrative Sequencing
Quantitative Aptitude
Data Interpretation
Data graphs (bar graphs, pie charts, and other graphs representing data), 2- and 3-dimensional plots, maps, and tables
Numerical Computation and Estimation
Ratios, percentages, powers, exponents and logarithms, permutations and combinations, and series
Mensuration and Geometry
Elementary Statistics and Probability
Analytical Aptitude
Logic
Deduction and Induction
Analogy
Numerical Relations and Reasoning
Spatial Aptitude
Transformation of Shapes
Translation, rotation, scaling, mirroring, assembling, and grouping
Paper folding, cutting, and patterns in 2 and 3 dimensions
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