Climate change is a crucial factor that affects plant physiology, population dynamics and geographic ranges. Little is known about the effects of changing climate on conifer morphology, whether their key morphological structures have the ability to change in response to environmental differences and what the impact of these changes mean for future ecological population dynamics. Are morphological and physiological traits locally adapted within a species or do they acclimatize to specific environmental conditions? Two studies were conducted to test 1) whether morphological structures of conifers differ between source populations when transplanted across an elevation gradient and 2) whether photosynthetic levels under a light treatment differ between source populations. Tsuga mertensiana seedlings from three study sites, varying from high to low elevation on Mt. Rainier, were each transplanted across and beyond the species' elevation range. For the first study, measurements of shoot to root ratio, specific leaf area (SLA) (m2/g) and leaf mass vs. stem mass were calculated. We expect our results to show that as elevation increases, SLA and shoot to root ratio decrease, however overall values are smaller for trees at higher elevation. This indicates that within a single species, trees from distinctive ecotypes are inherently different morphologically, even though all seedlings have the ability to acclimate to changes in elevation. The second study manipulates light as a single variable and addresses whether the driving force of morphological and physiological characteristics are due to light levels at different elevations or whether T. mertensiana seedlings at different ecotypes are genetically different physiologically.