RESEARCHERS have reached out to South East Queensland and northern New South Wales residents for help to find out which plant species are responsible for paralysis syndrome in rainbow lorikeets.

Lorikeet Paralysis Syndrome (LPS) occurs in wild rainbow lorikeets and causes the birds to become paralysed and unable to fly.

Professor David Phalen from the University of Sydney is one of the project’s researchers.

He said the cause of LPS was unknown and it was uncertain if it was caused by an infectious agent or man-made toxin.

Researchers are now exploring the possibility that LPS could be caused when the birds eat a toxic plant that grows in southern Queensland and northern NSW.

“The seasonality of the disease suggests a blooming and fruiting period of the toxic plant that occurs during October to June,” Professor Phalen said.

“The distribution of the locations where lorikeets are found is not random, suggesting that if a toxic plant is the cause of LPS, that plant occurs in some areas but not others.

“We require citizen scientists in the designated study site to report observations on iNaturalist of what plant species and food sources the rainbow lorikeets were observed feeding on.”

The aim is to collect as many observations as possible.

The results will help identify what plants or other food sources researchers should sample and test in further studies.

Information collected will be analysed and a list made of the lorikeets food sources.

The plants the birds are feeding on during periods when LPS is occurring and what they do not feed on at other times of year, will also be noted.