more quickly. The foundress gynes will continue to forage for 3–5 weeks, after which they will stop constructing and provisioning brood cells. The brood cells are left inactive for 1–2 weeks before the emergence of the first brood. The first brood typically emerges in June, and most females from the first brood will stay with their natal nest and act as foraging workers, provisioning for a second brood, on which the foundresses will resume laying eggs. Some females (the gynes) from the first brood, and all of the females from the second brood, will mate, disperse, and enter hibernation for the winter, and the colony cycle begins again the following spring. Sociality Effects on Colony Cycle The annual cycle differs slightly for eusocial and solitary populations, in terms of the number and sex ratios of offspring born in the broods. For example, in solitary populations, the first brood comprises 40% females, who are all able to mate before the next hibernation season. However, in eusocial populations, the emergence from hibernation occurs one or two months earlier, and results in a brood with mostly or exclusively worker females, with the female bias being greater the earlier nesting begins. Nesting for solitary populations begins in late May or June. The absence of a brood of female workers defines this nest type as solitary, so solitary populations produce only one reproductive brood that is provisioned by a gyne. The emergence of this brood is at approximately the same time as the emergence of the second or third brood in the social colony cycle. Upon emergence, the offspring mate and then females enter hibernation away from the nesting site. As in social colonies, the males and nest foundresses die at the end of the season. Sex ratio variation In social populations where there are two or more broods in one season, there are different sex ratios for each brood., and even variation between years, depending upon temperature (warmer years lead to increased male bias). The first brood will typically contain 75–100% females, most of which become workers, to help the mother produce a second brood. The final brood is slightly male-biased, typically with a sex ratio of about 60% males, and the females of the second brood are all gynes. The peak of male production strongly corresponds with photoperiod, such that eggs laid on or near the summer solstice are almost all male. In