ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Postglacial vegetation

After a long time ago when the big ice sheets melted away, it left a lot of areas without the ice that had been there before. This was called the postglacial period. As the ice melted away, the ground under it became free for plants to grow, but the plants that were living there before were gone because the ice had covered them. It was like a new place for plants.

So, after the postglacial period, new plants started growing in the areas that were once covered by the ice. At first, they were simple plants like lichens and mosses, but as time went on, bigger plants like trees, shrubs, and grasses started to grow.

The type of plants that grew in each area depended on things like the temperature, how much water there was, and what kind of soil was there. So, in some places, there were forests with big trees, while in others there were only grasses and small plants.

Scientists can study the postglacial vegetation to learn about how plants have changed in different areas over time. It's like looking back in time to see what kind of plants were growing in a certain place a long time ago.