Stratification (vegetation)

Do you know how your toys are organized into different boxes, some toys in one box and other toys in another box? Well, the same thing happens in nature with plants! Stratification is how plants are organized into different layers depending on their height in a forest or other ecosystem.

Imagine you are walking in a forest. Look down at your feet, the ground is the first layer, called the forest floor. This is where the leaves, twigs, and dead plants fall and decompose. It's like a giant toy box filled with dead plant parts.

Next, there is a layer of small plants growing, like ferns and grasses. These plants don't get very big, and they grow on the ground or on rocks. They are like the toys that are smaller and stay at the bottom of the toy box.

Above them, there might be some shrubs and bushes growing, like blueberries or raspberries. They grow a little taller, like the toys that are too big for the bottom of the toy box but don't get as tall as the toys in the next layer.

Finally, at the top layer are the big trees, like maple or oak. They are like the toys that are the tallest, and they grow over all the layers below them.

So, stratification is just like organizing toys in different boxes, but for plants in a forest!