How do plants deal with light and conduct photosynthesis in the rainforest?
Photosynthesis is one of the basic driving forces of life on earth. It is an especially vital initiator of the food pyramid in the tropical rainforest because of the sheer amount and diversity of green plants. Almost all plants photosynthesize, from moss only a few cells thick, to the tallest Hoop Pines. This amazing yet everyday process enables plants to make sugars from the energy of sunlight. The main tool in this process are the green leaves. Measurements in some undisturbed tropical rainforests have shown that as little as 2% of the sunlight may reach the forest floor. This means that the very bottom floor of the rainforest has little undergrowth, such as grasses, and thus undisturbed rainforest may have a relatively open understorey. The shade plants that do grow down here in the comparative darkness often have relatively huge leaves to catch what is left of the sunlight. In the lowland forests they belong to the giant herbs, such as native bananas and gingers, such as the ginger pictured below...
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