Habitat selection of freshwater‐dependent cetaceans and the potential effects of declining freshwater flows and sea‐level rise in waterways of the Sundarbans mangrove forest, Bangladesh

Abstract Generalized additive models of sighting data for cetaceans collected during two surveys of waterways in the Sundarbans mangrove forest of Bangladesh indicated that Ganges River dolphin Platanista gangetica gangetica distribution was conditionally dependent ( P <0.05) on low salinity, high turbidity, and moderate depth during both low and high freshwater flow; and Irrawaddy dolphin Orcaella brevirostris distribution was conditionally dependent ( P <0.05) on low salinity during high freshwater flow, high and moderate depths during low and high freshwater flow, respectively; low and high‐low extremes of turbidity during low and high freshwater flow, respectively; and high temperature and increasing numbers of large–small channel confluences during low freshwater flow. According to sighting data collected over a 3‐year period by the…