ABSTRACT. The gap between scientific knowledge and implementation in the fields of biodiversity conservation, environmental management, and climate change adaptation has resulted in many calls from practitioners and academics to provide practical solutions responding effectively to the risks and opportunities of global environmental change, e.g., Future Earth. We present a framework to guide the implementation of science-action partnerships based on a real-world case study of a partnership between a local municipality and an academic institution to bridge the science-action gap in the eThekwini Municipal Area, South Africa. This partnership aims to inform the implementation of sustainable land-use planning, biodiversity conservation, environmental management, and climate change adaptation practice and contributes to the development of human capacity in these areas of expertise. Using a transdisciplinary approach, implementation-driven research is being conducted to develop several decision-making products to better inform land-use planning and management. Lessons learned through this partnership are synthesized and presented as a framework of enabling actions operating at different levels, from the individual to the interorganizational. Enabling actions include putting in place enabling organizational preconditions, assembling a functional well-structured team, and actively building interpersonal and individual collaborative capacity. Lessons learned in the case study emphasize the importance of building collaborative capacity and social capital, and paying attention to the process of transdisciplinary research to achieve more tangible science, management, and policy objectives in science-action partnerships. By documenting and reflecting on the process, this case study provides conceptual and practical guidance on bridging the science-action gap through partnerships.

Invertebrates form an important part of the diet in the omnivorous African tortoises of the genus Kinixys. Millipede prey of Kinixys spekii in Zimbabwe had a mean volume of 0.9 ml, and made up 64.7% of invertebrate food by volume; beetles made up most of the remainder and had a mean volume of 1.4 ml. The mean mass of invertebrate prey was 0.19% of tortoise mass, a similar value of relative prey mass to many insectivorous lizards. Tortoises preferentially attacked moving millipedes at or just behind the head, but predatory behaviour was otherwise unspecialized, with tortoises killing millipedes by ingesting them in pieces. Handling times of millipede prey varied signi¢cantly with relative prey mass, defensive behaviour, and direction of ingestion. The pro¢tability (mass intake/handling time) of millipedes was maximal at a relative prey mass of 0.2%; the basis on which prey are selected is discussed.Re¨sumeL es inverte¨bre¨s constituent une grande part du re¨gime alimentaire des tortues africaines omnivores du genre Kinixis. Les mille-pattes qui sont les proies de Kinixis spekii au Zimbabwe ont un volume moyen de 0,9 ml, et constituent 64,7% du volume des inverte¨bre¨s qu'elles consomment; les cole¨opte© res repre¨sentent a© peu pre© s le reste du volume, et ont un volume moyen de 1,4 ml. La masse moyenne des proies inverte¨bre¨es e¨tait de 0,19% de la masse des tortues, une valeur semblable a© la masse relative des proies de nombreux le¨zards insectivores. Les tortues attaquaient de pre¨fe¨rence les mille-pattes en mouvement juste derrie© re la teª te ou a© la teª te, mais a© part cela, leur comportement de pre¨dateur n'e¨tait pas spe¨cialise¨, les tortues tuant les mille-pattes et les mangeant par morceaux. Le temps de manipulation de la proie variait signi¢cativement en fonction de la taille relative du mille-pattes, de son comportement de¨fensif et du sens de l'ingestion. La pro¢tabilite¨(masse inge¨re¨e/ temps de manipulation) des mille-pattes e¨tait maximale lorsque la masse relative de la proie e¨tait de 0,2%; on discute la base sur laquelle les proies sont choisies.

As it is currently defined, Archispirostreptus includes two species groups (the southern African and the east African) with distinct kinds of gonopods. A new genus, Cacuminostreptus Mwabvu, is proposed to accommodate the southern African species which include C. conatus (Attems 1928) comb. n. and three new species, C. vumbaensis Mwabvu, C. triangulatus Mwabvu and C. mazowensis Mwabvu. Two new synonymies are established: A. Cecchii Silvestri 1897 = A. phillipsii Pocock 1896 and A. transmarinus Hoffman 1965 = A. syriacus (Saussure 1859). The species A. arabs Pocock 1895 is incertae sedis; and A. sumptuosus Silvestri 1896 is a nomen dubium. Identification keys to the genera and species based on gonopod morphology and distribution data are presented.

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Ants are sensitive to habitat change and may be affected by disturbances, such as alien plant invasion. Alien plant invasion is associated with negative effects on the functioning of ecosystems and may have adverse impacts on biodiversity. The aim of this study was to determine the diversity of ground‐dwelling ants in Tanglewood and Giba Gorge Reserves in KwaZulu‐Natal Province, South Africa. Ants were sampled in the wet and dry seasons. Pitfall trap sampling was carried out in an intact grassland, forest and a disturbed grassland. We collected 360 samples resulting in a total of 2,577 occurrences comprising of 54 species. We found that diversity of ants in the two sites was influenced by vegetation type. The intact grassland in the two reserves had greater diversity (40 ± 4.45) of ants compared with forest (22 ± 4.86) and disturbed grassland (27 ± 1.15); however, the disturbed grassland supported higher ant occurrences (50.03 ± 31.6). Opportunists represented the most diverse functional group with 17 species followed by specialist predators with 13 species and generalised Myrmicinae with 10 species. These results suggest that grassland disturbance by alien plant invasion provides suitable environmental conditions that may increase ant occurrences but decrease ant diversity.