Only about 1–2% of sunlight reaches a dense rainforest floor
Walk under a closed tropical canopy and the forest floor feels like perpetual dusk. Layer upon layer of leaves intercepts photons long before they hit the ground, leaving roughly one or two percent of full sunlight.
That scarcity shapes everything below: shade-tolerant seedlings, thin understory leaves, and plants that race for any gap. Most primary production happens high above, not at your boots.
Light is the rainforest’s strict currency. Whoever owns the canopy owns the energy budget — which is why a fallen giant can restart a whole neighborhood of growth.
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