Covers ecological principles, evolutionary biology, biodiversity, and conservation, aimed at candidates interested in ecological research and environmental sciences.

GATE Ecology and Evolution

Official 2025 syllabus extracted from https://gate2025.iitr.ac.in/doc/2025/GATE%20_EY_2025_Syllabus.pdf

Ecology

Abiotic and biotic components

Scales: population, species, community, ecosystems, biomes

Niches and habitats

Fundamental Concepts

Population growth rates: density dependent and independent

Metapopulation ecology: colonization, persistence, extinction, patches, sources, sinks

Age-structured populations

Population Ecology

Types: mutualism, symbiosis, commensalism, competition, parasitism, predation

Ecophysiology: physiological adaptations to abiotic environment

Prey-predator interactions (Lotka-Volterra equation)

Interactions

Community assembly, organization and succession

Species richness, evenness and diversity indices

Species-area relationships

Theory of island biogeography

Community Ecology

Trophic levels and their interactions

Nutrient cycles

Primary and secondary productivity

Ecosystems Structure and Function

Evolution

Lamarckism

Darwinism

Modern Synthesis

History of Evolutionary Thought

Variation

Heritability

Natural selection

Fitness and adaptation

Types of selection: stabilizing, directional, disruptive

Fundamentals

Origin and history of life on earth

Diversity and classification of life

Systems of classification: cladistics and phenetics

Diversity of Life

Allocation of resources

Tradeoffs

r/K selection

Semelparity and iteroparity

Life History Strategies

Co-evolution: co-adaptations, arms race, Red Queen hypothesis, co-speciation

Prey-predator interactions: mimicry, crypsis

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)

Population and Quantitative Genetics

Neutral theory

Molecular clocks

Rates of evolution

Phylogenetic reconstruction

Molecular systematics

Molecular Evolution and Phylogenetics

Species concepts and speciation

Adaptive radiation

Convergence

Biogeography

Macroevolution

Mathematics and Quantitative Ecology

Simple functions: linear, quadratic, exponential, logarithmic

Concept of derivatives and slope of a function

Permutations and combinations

Basic probability: probability of random events, sequences of events

Frequency distributions and descriptive statistics: mean, variance, coefficient of variation, correlation

Mathematics and Statistics in Ecology

Concept of p-value

Type I and Type II error

Test statistics: t-test, Chi-square test

Basics of linear regression and ANOVA

Statistical Hypothesis Testing

Behavioural Ecology

Instinct

Fixed action patterns

Imprinting

Learnt behavior

Proximate and ultimate questions

Classical Ethology

Neuroethology

Communication: chemical, acoustic and visual signaling

Recognition systems

Sensory Ecology

Foraging behaviour

Optimal foraging theory

Foraging Ecology

Cost of sex

Sexual dimorphism

Mate choice

Sexual selection: runaway selection, good-genes, handicap principle

Sexual conflict

Mating systems

Parental care

Reproduction

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

Social Living

Applied Ecology and Evolution

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

Biodiversity and Conservation

Epidemiology

Zoonotic diseases

Antibiotic resistance

Vector control

Plant and animal breeding

Marker assisted breeding

Genetic basis of economically important traits

Disease Ecology and Evolution

Causes

Consequences

Mitigation

Global Climate Change

GATE Ecology and Evolution Syllabus 2025, 2026 and more: Subjects, Topics, and What to Study