2. natural variations in weather patterns have effects on certain populations. a warm damp spring for example, is ideal for small rodent species and certain insects, who benefit from the lush vegetation produced by this pattern. as a result, their populations swell to high levels. in the end however, this doesn’t result in population growth at the higher tropic levels. you don’t end up with more predators, just fatter predators. what limits the ability of the higher tropic levels to grow in response to the increased availability of food?