Final answer:
A biome is best defined as a region characterized by abiotic factors like climate and soil, as well as by its plant and animal life. It is a group of similar ecosystems with the same types of environments that support characteristic biotic factors.
Step-by-step explanation:
The best definition of a biome is a region characterized by its abiotic factors, such as climate, soil, and water, and by its characteristic types of plant and animal life. Abiotic factors are the nonliving components of the environment, which include things like sunlight, soil temperature, and water. Biotic factors are the living aspects of the environment, which include organisms such as plants, animals, fungi, and microorganisms. A biome is essentially a group of similar ecosystems that share the same general type of physical environment, which allows for similar types of plants and animals to thrive across different regions of the world with those conditions.
For example, the tropical rainforest biome is characterized by high rainfall, warm temperatures year-round, and a wide variety of plant and animal species. In contrast, the desert biome has low precipitation, extreme temperature fluctuations, and specially adapted plant and animal life. Both of these are types of biomes, defined by their unique sets of abiotic and biotic factors.