The logo, designed by Liz Tasker for ESA08, represents both the interactions theme of the conference, and the distinctive flora and associated animals of the greater Sydney sandstone basin. The sclerophyll woodlands and heathlands of the Sydney region are amongst the best studied ecosystems in Australia, and Sydney ecologists have made internationally significant theoretical contributions to our understanding of disturbance, and in particular fire ecology, interspecific competition, plant-pollinator and animal-seed interactions, and the ecology of rare plants.

The Waratah, Telopea speciosissima, is one of the best-known and most spectacular sclerophyllous flowers of the Sydney region and New South Wales (of which it is the floral emblem), and the scientific name means “beautiful and seen from afar”, an aspiration of the LOC in planning the conference.

Telopea is a member of Proteaceae, one of the oldest and more diverse Gondwanan families (the Tribe Embothriinae, of which it is a member, has an interesting South American-Australian distribution), and the the fossil record for this genus dates back to the early Oligocene.

The logo also represents the conference theme “Interactions in Science, Interactions in Nature” in a number of ways. Firstly, interactions between plants and their pollinators, in this case the Eastern Spinebill, Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris, one of the most beautifully-adapted pollinators of the waratah, with a very elongated curved bill to probe the floral tubes and a brushy tongue, and the bright red colour and presentation of the flower are typical of bird-pollinated flowers the world over.

The waratah is also symbolic of the complex relationship of much of the Sydney sandstone flora with fire; and their dependence on suitable fire regimes for survival. Waratahs regenerate from a lignotuber after fire, and flowering is stimulated by fire, however inappropriate fire frequencies and predation on the seeds released in the post-fire environment by vertebrates and invertebrates can limit recruitment and survival.

Finally, the Waratah is also symbolic of interactions between people and plants. As a showy and popular cut flower, populations that grow along much-used bush walking tracks are threatened by illegal picking, and are need to be actively managed by the National Parks & Wildlife Service (marking flowers to “spoil” their appearance to would-be theives) in order to enable sufficient seed-production for their persistence in these areas.