List of top Applied Ecology & Evolution Questions on Evolution asked in GATE EY

Despite their striking morphological similarity to each other, Old World and New World vultures are not phylogenetically related. Old World vultures are most closely related to eagles, while New World vultures are most closely related to storks. The morphological similarity between Old World and New World vultures is an example of ____________.

The population of whirligig beetles in a lake grows or declines exponentially, i.e., \( N(t) = N(0)e^{rt} \), where \( N(t) \) is the population size at time \( t \), \( N(0) \) is the initial population size, and \( r \) is the per capita rate of population change, occurring only due to birth and death.
A researcher tracks population sizes for a year and finds the following:

Assuming that the individual birth rates remain constant throughout the year and only death rates are affected, which one or more of the following statements is/are true?

Modern humans of European descent have a much higher proportion of Neanderthal DNA than modern humans of African descent. Which one or more of the following statements is/are consistent with this information?

From the table below, choose one or more of the options that match(es) the evolutionary biologists with the organisms they are well-known to have studied.

A researcher wants to estimate the number of crickets in an isolated valley. They captured 56 crickets in the first session, and then marked and released them. In the second session, they captured 41 crickets of which 8 were already marked.
Assuming that there is no birth, death, immigration, or emigration in the cricket population during the study period, what is the estimated number of crickets in this valley? Match the appropriate population estimate with the data given.

Many insect species carry the endosymbiotic bacteria Wolbachia, which are maternally inherited. Wolbachia persist over time in these insect hosts by increasing the fitness of the infected host. This increased host fitness can lead to the fixation of Wolbachia in the host population, wherein all individuals carry it. Which one of the following statements describes a process that would NOT allow Wolbachia to become fixed in the host population?

Newts produce tetrodotoxin (TTX), a poison that targets sodium ion channels, for defense against their predators, garter snakes. Several species of garter snakes are resistant to newt TTX due to specific known amino acid substitutions in garter snake sodium channels. Which one of the following is best-suited to identify whether this adaptation in garter snakes has a single origin or multiple independent origins?

Fossils of most of the modern animal phyla first appeared over a short period of time. In which one of the following geological time periods did this occur?

Rotting leaves of mango are composed of 25% of compound P which decomposes exponentially at a rate \( k_P = 0.5 \, {yr}^{-1} \) and 75% of compound Q which decomposes exponentially at a rate \( k_Q = 0.1 \, {yr}^{-1} \). What percentage of the initial amount of compound Q remains when half of the initial amount of compound P has decomposed? Choose the closest numerical value from the options provided.