Researchers examining cacti species around the world concluded about 30 percent are in danger of extinction due to human activity.

According to BBC News, authors of a study published in the journal Nature Plants concluded 31 percent of the 1,480 cacti species in the world face endangerment. The top causes include illegal or unsanctioned trading, as well as other human-influenced factors like agriculture and land usage.

"The startling results reflect the vital importance of funding and conducting assessments of the threatened status of all of the species in major groups of plants, such as the cacti," study co-author Kevin Gaston, from the University of Exeter, said in a press release. "Only by so doing will we gain the overall picture of what is happening to them, at a time when, as evidenced by the cacti, they may be under immense human pressures."

The study was led by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (ICUN).

"These findings are disturbing," IUCN Director General Inger Andersen said in the release. "They confirm that the scale of the illegal wildlife trade - including trade in plants - is much greater than we had previously thought, and that wildlife trafficking concerns many more species than the charismatic rhinos and elephants which tend to receive global attention. We must urgently step up international efforts to tackle the illegal wildlife trade and strengthen the implementation of the CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, if we want to prevent the further decline of these species."

Among the factors affecting the endangered cacti species, illegal trade accounted for 47 percent, which entails the extraction of live plants and seeds for agricultural or private collection purposes, BBC News reported.

"The results of this assessment come as a shock to us," study lead author Barbara Goettsch, Co-Chair of IUCN's Cactus and Succulent Plant Specialist Group, said in the release. "We did not expect cacti to be so highly threatened and for illegal trade to be such an important driver of their decline. Their loss could have far-reaching consequences for the diversity and ecology of arid lands and for local communities dependent on wild-harvested fruit and stems."