Stratification is the characteristic of biological community. Stratification is the vertical layering or the phenomenon of having more than one stratum including formed by different plants/organisms in the same place. A forest may have 5-7 strata including large or canopy trees, medium tees, short trees, shrubs, herbs, ground flora etc. Stratification is useful as it can accommodate a large number of organisms of different types and more efficient use of resources. The animals that occupy such similar strata or ecological niches although geographically separated, are called ecological equivalents.