• Abiotic Factors- The non living factors in an ecosystem that affect the survival chances for an organism in that ecosystem.

• Some of the Abiotic Factors in a Northwestern Coniferous Forest include: mild temperatures abundant precipitation in fall, winter, and spring. Cool dry summers, and rocky acidic soils. Water availability, sunlight, temperature range, landscaping (the way a piece of land is, i.e., rocky, flat, aquatic, grassy, open, secluded, cramped, etc.) pollutant level, light intensity, oxygen availability, and exposure.  These factors are all equally important to an animal and how it survives.  If there isn't enough water in an ecosystem a river otter would have a hard time surviving and would be forced to move to another area.

• Biotic factors are all the living things or their materials that directly or indirectly affect an organism in its environment.Biotic Factors include: parasitism (parasites), predatation, and disease.

• Camouflage helps insects and ground -dwelling mammals avoid predation. Many animals are browsers.. They eat a varied diet, an advantage in an environment where vegetation changes seasonally.

• This is an example of the food chain in a Coniferous forest.

•Because of seasonal temperature variation, there is less diversity in this biome than in tropical rain forests. However, ample water and nutrients support lush, dense plant growth. Adaptations that enable plants to obtain sunlight are common. Trees here are among the world’s tallest.

• Coniferous forests are divided into two types - temperate forests (in mild climates usually along the coastlines) and boreal forests also called taiga (in sub-arctic climates that lie immediately south of the tundra).

(Temperate forest). (Taiga forest).

• Mild moist air from the Pacific Ocean influenced by the Rocky Mountains provides abundant rainfall to this Biome.

• The forest includes a variety of different trees, conifers, giant red wood, spruce, fir, and hemlock, along with flowering trees and shrubs such as dogwood and rhododendron.

• Moss often covers tree trunks and the forest ground, because it’s a lush vegetation the northwestern coniferous forest is sometimes called a “temperate rain forest”