To solve the first question, we need to consider the energy transfer efficiency. If the little bird receives 50 units of energy from the caterpillar, and there's a 10% energy transfer at each level, we can calculate the energy from the leaf to the caterpillar.
If the caterpillar transfers 10% of its energy to the bird, we can set up the equation like this:
Let \( x \) be the energy the caterpillar got from the leaf. The caterpillar passes 10% of \( x \) to the little bird:
\[ 0.10x = 50 \]
To find \( x \), we rearrange the equation:
\[ x = \frac{50}{0.10} = 500 \text{ units of energy} \]
So the answer to the first question is 500 units of energy.
For the second question, if the little bird got 50 units of energy from the caterpillar, and again considering the 10% transfer ratio, the energy available for the big bird would be:
The little bird transfers 10% of the 50 units to the big bird:
\[ 0.10 \times 50 = 5 \text{ units of energy} \]
So the answer to the second question is 5.