Three-quarters of the world's carnivores are in decline due to a loss of habitat and prey, but the downward trend could be damaging to the ecosystem if a solution is not reached.

Lions, wolves and bears are among the world's most prominent carnivores whose population is in decline, BBC News reported. In the developed world, the authors said a majority of carnivorous are already extinct.

"Many of them are endangered," study lead author William Ripple, a professor of forest ecosystems and society at Oregon State University, said in a news release. "Their ranges are collapsing. Many of these animals are at risk of extinction, either locally or globally. And, ironically, they are vanishing just as we are learning about their important ecological effects."

Examining 31 carnivorous species of large animals, the researchers found they were under an increasing amount of pressure in Southeast Asia, the Amazon and East Africa. Further, the researchers said the study, published Friday in the journal Science, focuses on a real problem the world's ecosystem would face without its large carnivores.

"Human tolerance of these species is a major issue for conservation," Ripple said in the release. "We say these animals have an intrinsic right to exist, but they are also providing economic and ecological services that people value."

The lead author told NBC News a solution could be multifaceted and complex. The immediate effect he hopes the study's data might take would be to influence a global committee set up to invent policies protecting wildlife carnivores.

Wildlife carnivores help control the population of animals such as baboons, elk, deer, moose and more, all of which are known to be thorns in farmers' sides. In essence, by eating meat, carnivores help improve crops, as well as limit erosion and enhance water quality.

Not involved in the study, but an expert on lion conservation in Africa, Craig Packer, an ecologist at the University of Minnesota, told NBC News keeping carnivores' population up is going to be complicated.

"You cannot expect somebody living in rural Africa or rural Asia to risk being eaten by a lion or a tiger so that your moral sense is gratified back in California or Texas or New York," he said. "Conservationists need to recognize that there are legitimate reasons why people want to get rid of these animals."