Steelhead, Salmon, and "Thermal Hopscotch"

The University of Idaho College of Natural Resources recently completed a report entitled, "Temperature regimes during upstream migration and the use of thermal refugia by adult salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River basin."

Additional information about the report can be found in a Columbia Basin Bulletin article. The article begins, "Remember when you were a child running barefoot--how you would run quickly over a hot sidewalk, rest in a shaded spot, and let your feet cool down before braving the hot surface again?"

The above two links reveal how adult steelhead and chinook in the Columbia basin are participating in a similar game of "temperature hopscotch," but more as a matter of survival.