A third of tropical African plants face extinction三分之一的熱帶非洲植物面臨滅絕
By Helen Briggs
A third of tropical African plants are on the path to extinction, according to a new assessment. 根據一項新的評估，非洲三分之一的熱帶非洲植物正在滅絕。
Much of western Africa, Ethiopia, and parts of Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are the hardest hit regions, standing to lose more than 40% of their richness of plants. 西部非洲，衣索比亞的大部分地區以及坦尚尼亞和剛果民主共和國的部分地區是受災最嚴重的地區，失去的植物豐富度超過40％。
Species at risk include trees, shrubs, herbs and woody vines. 高危物種包括樹木，灌木，草藥和木質藤本植物。
Threats include deforestation, population growth and climate change, the scientists said. 科學家說，威脅包括森林砍伐，人口增長和氣候變化。
"Biodiversity provides countless benefits to humans and losing diversity jeopardises our future," said lead researcher Dr Thomas Couvreur of the French National Institute for Sustainable Development. 法國國家可持續發展研究所首席研究員託馬斯·庫夫勒（Thomas Couvreur）博士說：「生物多樣性為人類帶來了無數的利益，喪失多樣性危害了我們的未來。」
Loss of biodiversity will be particularly problematic in tropical Africa, "a region of incredible diversity but with major social and political challenges and expected rapid population growth over the next decades", he added. 他補充說，在非洲熱帶地區，生物多樣性的喪失將尤其成問題，「非洲是一個令人難以置信的多樣性地區，但面臨重大的社會和政治挑戰，預計未來幾十年人口將迅速增長。」
The findings of the study, published in Science Advances, are based on a revised method for assessing extinction risk. 該研究的結果發表在《科學進展》上，是基於一種評估滅絕風險的修訂方法。
Official assessments of extinction are recorded in The Red List of Threatened Species, published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature - IUCN. 正式的滅絕評估記錄在國際自然保護聯盟-IUCN出版的《瀕危物種紅色名錄》中
So far, almost nine in 10 mammals and two-thirds of birds have been assessed, but less than 8% of vascular plants (flowering plants and most other plants, excluding mosses and algae). 到目前為止，已經評估了十分之九的哺乳動物和三分之二的鳥類，但是不到8％的維管植物（開花植物和大多數其他植物，不包括苔蘚和藻類）。
The researchers used a similar, but more speedy, method to assess the likely extinction risk of more than 20,000 plant species. 研究人員使用了一種類似但更快速的方法來評估2萬多種植物的滅絕風險。
They found that 33% of the species are potentially threatened with extinction, and another third of species are likely rare, potentially becoming threatened in the near future. 他們發現，有33％的物種可能面臨滅絕的威脅，而另外三分之一的物種則可能很稀有，並有可能在不久的將來受到威脅。
This is mainly due to human activities such as deforestation, land-use changes, population growth, economic development, and climate change, they said. 他們說，這主要歸因於人類活動，例如森林砍伐，土地利用變化，人口增長，經濟發展和氣候變化。