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Hurricane Dorian is not only a catastrophe for the people living on the islands in the Bahamas battered by the record-breaking storm. It may also have killed the last few individuals of a bird called the Bahama nuthatch, meaning this species is now extinct. Several other bird species could also have been lost.

鈥淒orian is of course a humanitarian disaster,鈥� says conservation biologist Diana Bell at the University of East Anglia. 鈥淚t is also likely to be an ecological disaster.鈥�

Last year members of her team carried out extensive surveys on Grand Bahama island and found just one Bahama nuthatch. It is now highly likely that this species has been lost, Bell says.

The Bahama nuthatch (Sitta insularis) was a small bird that lived in the natural pine forests of Grand Bahama. It used to be common on the island but as the pine forests shrank its numbers fell. By 2009 fewer than 2000 birds remained. After Category 4 Hurricane Matthew struck in 2016 none were seen at all until the survey last year.

Catastrophic

Now Dorian has delivered an even more severe blow. Not only was the Category 5 storm the joint strongest Atlantic hurricane ever to strike land when it made landfall in the nearby Abaco Islands, Dorian also stalled over the island of Grand Bahama, subjecting it to a prolonged battering and driving a massive storm surge over much of the island.

Seven deaths, numerous injuries and extensive damage to buildings had already been reported in the Bahamas as of Wednesday morning, and it is feared the final death toll could be much higher.

Bell says several bird species may also have been lost. Besides the nuthatch, the Bahama warbler, the Bahama swallow, the olive-capped warbler and the Bahama yellowthroat are also found mainly or only on Grand Bahama and the Abaco islands.

鈥淲e just have to hold our breath,鈥� she says. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e a little bird, where do you hide?鈥�

Even if some birds have survived, their habitat may have been destroyed. Salt water from the storm surge could kill what remains of the forests they depend on.

And these birds are far from the only species that could be wiped out by extreme weather. 鈥淎 lot of threatened species live in vulnerable and exposed habitats,鈥� says ecologist Georgina Mace of University College London.

Her team has just published a study showing , from storms to droughts.

The main problem is habitat loss due to human activities. For instance, the Bahama nuthatch used to be found on several islands in the Caribbean, so it was not so vulnerable to hurricanes.

Besides habitat loss, climate change is also making extreme weather events more common and more severe, Mace says.

The Bahama nuthatch is not the first species to be wiped out by the combination of habitat loss and hurricanes. The Cozumel thrasher, once common on Cozumel Island off Mexico, has not been seen since hurricanes Emily and Wilma struck in 2005.

Bell says it is vital to restore native vegetation to prevent even more species being lost. Restoring vegetation can help reduce flooding during extreme events, she points out, so it can benefit people as well as wildlife.