Lithosere

Let's imagine we have a field with nothing growing on it. It's just soil with rocks and maybe some sand. Over time, little seeds might land on this field and start to grow into small plants. As these plants grow, they start to change the soil. They might make it more packed and stable, they might add some nutrients to the soil or they might help the soil to retain water better. As these plants continue to grow, new plants might start to come in and they might be taller than the first ones. Eventually, after many years, we might have a forest with large trees and all sorts of plants that created a complex ecosystem.

This process of change over time, from a barren field to a complex forest, is what we call a lithosere. It's like watching a baby grow up into an adult over many years. The plants that come first are called pioneers and they start the process of changing the soil. As the soil changes, more and more complex plants can grow until we have a fully formed ecosystem.

Lithosere is just a fancy term that scientists use to describe this process of change over time from a barren field to a complex forest. It's an important process to understand because it shows us how the environment can change over time and how important it is to protect ecosystems that have taken years to develop.