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. |
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; trade offs; r/K selection; semelparity and iteroparity. |
Interactions | Coevolution (co-adaptations, arms race, Red Queen hypothesis, co-speciation); prey-predator 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. |
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 | Instinct; fixed action patterns; 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. |
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. |
