Syllabus for Ecology and Evolution (EY), GATE 2014.

Mathematics, Statistics and Quantitative 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). Experimental design and 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.

Basic Ecology: Functional ecology; ecophysiology; population ecology; metapopulation dynamics; growth rates; density independent growth; density dependent growth; niche concept; ecosystem structure, function and services; nutrient cycles; biomes; habitat ecology; primary and secondary productivity; invasive species; global and climate change; applied ecology.

Community ecology: Community assembly, organization and evolution; biodiversity: species richness, evenness and diversity indices; endemism; species-area relationships; species interactions; plant–animal interactions; mutualism, commensalism, competition and predation; trophic interactions.

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.

Evolution: Origin, evolution and diversification of life; adaptation; convergence; species concepts; systematics and phylogeny: cladistics and phenetics
Natural selection; levels of selection; types of selection (stabilizing, directional etc.); sexual selection; genetic drift; gene flow; 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; molecular systematics; gene expression and evolution.