GATE — Ecology and Evolution (EY) · India · IITs and IISc on rotation (2026: IIT Guwahati)
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersThe animals of forests and grasslands: mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, their habitats, behaviour and population ecology, and how populations are counted.
In the exams: ICAR AICE-JRF 59 Unit 10 (wildlife biology, ornithology, herpetology, census methods); IFoS Forestry Paper II Section B (forest protection and wildlife biology); ICAR AIEEA-PG Group 09 (wildlife); GATE EY; Wildlife Institute of India MSc entrance
GATE Ecology and Evolution (EY)
Population growth models, life tables, mark-recapture, behavioural ecology (optimal foraging, vigilance, mating systems) and quantitative ecology.
How our questions for GATE spread across the units of Wildlife Biology & Ecology. Difficulty: 1 easy, 12 medium, 12 hard.
| Population dynamics: natality, mortality, carrying capacity | 11 | |
| Animal behaviour relevant to management | 4 | |
| Mark-recapture estimation | 4 | |
| Ornithology: forest birds and their ecology | 2 | |
| Mammals of forests and grasslands | 1 | |
| Herpetology: reptiles and amphibians | 1 | |
| Radio telemetry and home-range estimation | 1 | |
| Biodiversity monitoring and occupancy surveys | 1 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
In prey groups, vigilance per individual typically:
C. Falls as group size rises
A benefit of grouping.
The marginal value theorem predicts:
A. When a forager should leave a patch
Charnov's optimal patch-leaving rule.
Imprinting, important in captive rearing for reintroduction, was described in geese by:
B. Konrad Lorenz
Lorenz's work on imprinting.
A population of 200 has 50 births, 30 deaths, 5 immigrants and 15 emigrants in a year. Next year it is:
B. 210
200 + 50 - 30 + 5 - 15 = 210.
Under logistic growth with r = 0.4, K = 1,000 and N = 250, the growth rate dN/dt is:
D. 75 per year
0.4 x 250 x (1 - 0.25) = 75.
Large, long-lived species with low reproductive rates are described as:
C. K-selected
MacArthur and Wilson's K-selection.
An Allee effect occurs when individuals:
A. Do worse at low population density
E.g. difficulty finding mates.
With M = 50, C = 40 and R = 10, Chapman's estimate (M+1)(C+1)/(R+1) - 1 is about:
B. 189
51 x 41 / 11 - 1 = 189.
Which is an assumption of the Lincoln-Petersen estimator?
C. The population is closed between samples
Closure, equal catchability, harmless marks, no mark loss.
Detection probability per survey is 0.4. The probability of detecting a present species in three surveys is:
A. 0.784
1 - 0.6^3 = 0.784. 0.064 is 0.4^3, all three detecting.
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