Gate
2018 Syllabus for Ecology and Evolution (EY)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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