Temporary Staging of Columbia River Summer Steelhead in Coolwater Areas and Its Effect on Migration Rates

Abstract

We used radiotelemetry to evaluate the temporary staging of adult migrating steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss into nonnatal tributary rivers of the Columbia River and to determine the effects of staging behavior on migration rate. By monitoring the movement patterns of 2,900 individual steelhead over 3 years (1996, 1997, and 2000), we determined that an average of 61% of the steelhead destined for upstream areas temporarily staged in one or more tributaries in the lower Columbia River for durations from less than 1 h to 237 d. Median residence time varied significantly by tributary used and year and, based on canonical correlation analysis, was correlated with main‐stem Columbia River water temperature. Steelhead that temporarily staged in tributary rivers migrated through the lower Columbia River significantly more slowly than steelhead that did not use tributaries. Use of coolwater tributaries as thermal refugia during warm summertime conditions significantly influences the migratory behavior of Columbia River adult steelhead. Our results highlight the need to preserve the water quality parameters of existing cooler‐water Columbia River tributaries and to rehabilitate watersheds that historically maintained cooler‐water tributaries as sources of thermal refugia for adult summer steelhead returning to the basin.

Sperm in hot water: Direct and indirect thermal challenges interact to impact on brown trout sperm quality

“…Water temperatures of rivers during upstream migration and of spawning grounds upon arrival can differ substantially because they closely follow air temperature fluctuations (Isaak et al, 2011;van Vliet et al, 2011). While migrating trout can shelter from suboptimal water temperatures in thermal refuges (High et al, 2006), spawning brown trout males are confined to the shallow, slower flowing lakes and tributaries where females choose to build their redds (Jonsson and Jonsson, 2011). Being shallower, these areas are less likely to contain thermal refuges, unless they are groundwater fed and/or at sufficiently high altitude.…”

“…For example, they avoid suboptimal river water temperatures en route through thermal refuging (Berman and Quinn, 1991;Goniea et al, 2006;High et al, 2006;Hyatt et al, 2003;Mathes et al, 2010) -delaying migratory movement in deep pools, cold water tributaries, cold alcoves and areas with groundwater seeps (collectively thermal refuges) (Caissie, 2006). However, the location and temporal stability of thermal refuges is highly variable (Dugdale et al, 2013) and migrating salmonids regularly encounter water temperatures outside their tolerance levels (Mathes et al, 2010).…”

Anadromy and residency in steelhead and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss): a review of the processes and patterns

“…4; . Later in life, water temperature could also influence residency and anadromy through effects on spawn timing and subsequent emergence (Pavlov et al 2001a;Satterthwaite et al 2009) and the timing of returning adults (High et al 2006;Robards and Quinn 2002;Waples et al 2008).…”

“…For example, in the Columbia River basin, anadromous O. mykiss commonly rely on cold-water refuges to withstand elevated summer temperatures (High et al 2006). Additionally, the timing of anadromous fish entry into fresh water has changed substantially over the past several decades in response to changing temperature and flow regimes (Robards and Quinn 2002).…”

Fish Assemblage, Density, and Growth in Lateral Habitats within Natural and Regulated Sections of Washington's Elwha River Prior to Dam Removal

“…Radio-telemetry (High et al 2006) will be applied to assist the determination of recolonization rates to the upper basin. This technique may be particularly useful for fall and winter timed spawners that will be difficult to enumerate using traditional counts.…”