GATE Syllabus 2024 for EY Paper: The Indian Institute of Science (gate.iisc.ac.in), Bangalore, the organising institute officially released complete syllabus of Ecology and Evolution (EY) Paper for GATE 2024 exams.
The syllabus of paper EY (Ecology and Evolution) has been divided into five sections. The corresponding sections of the question paper contain different topics.
You may download GATE admit card and GATE exam schedule for paper Ecology and Evolution for appearing in the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering for the year 2024.
GATE 2024 Paper Pattern for Ecology and Evolution:
| Paper | Ecology and Evolution |
|---|---|
| Paper Code | EY |
| Examination Mode | Computer Based Test (CBT) |
| Duration | 3 Hours (180 Minutes) |
| Type of Questions | (a) Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) (b) Multiple Select Questions (MSQ) and/or Numerical Answer Type (NAT) Questions |
| Marking Scheme | Questions carry 1 mark and 2 marks |
| Negative Marking | For a wrong answer chosen in a MCQ, there will be negative marking. For 1-mark MCQ: 1/3 mark will be deducted for a wrong answer. For 2-mark MCQ: 2/3 mark will be deducted for a wrong answer. NO negative marking for MSQ & NAT. |
| Number of Questions | 10 (GA) + 55 (subject) = 65 Questions |
| General Aptitude (GA) Marks | 15 Marks |
| Subject Questions | 85 Marks |
| Total Marks | 100 Marks |
Section-1: Ecology
| Topics | GATE 2024 Syllabus of 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); prey-predator 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 |
Section-2: Evolution
| Topics | GATE 2024 Syllabus of 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 | Interactions: Co-evolution (co-adaptations, arms race, Red Queen hypothesis, co-speciation); preypredator 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
| Topics | GATE 2024 Syllabus of 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
| Topics | GATE 2024 Syllabus for Behavioural 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 behaviour; 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 behaviour |
Section-5: Applied Ecology & Evolution
| Topics | GATE 2024 Syllabus of 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 |
You may download complete GATE syllabus 2024 for EY Ecology and Evolution in PDF. For more detail, please visit official website GATE2024.IISc.ac.in.