Task Uncertainty and Mission Command in a Naval Context

Mission command is a leadership philosophy that was designed to ensure that military organizations could operate effectively in uncertain situations. It has become the exemplar of military leadership. This study explores whether an increase in task uncertainty is positively related to appreciation of mission command by crew members of Norwegian state-of-the-art, Nansen-class frigates (N = 174). The result of a simultaneous multiple regression indicates that there is a relationship, but in the opposite direction of what was hypothesized. The greater the task uncertainty, the more the behavior of the preferred leader deviated from mission command. The most important predictor was perceived lack of information, and the more the respondents felt that they lacked information when carrying out their tasks, the more their description of preferred leader behavior deviated from mission command.acceptedVersio

Military Strategies for Samhandling in Unforeseen Situations – A Historical Perspective

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Long-term patterns of an interconnected core marine microbiota

Ocean microbes constitute ~ 70% of the marine biomass, are responsible for ~ 50% of the Earth’s primary production and are crucial for global biogeochemical cycles. Marine microbiotas include core taxa that are usually key for ecosystem function. Despite their importance, core marine microbes are relatively unknown, which reflects the lack of consensus on how to identify them. So far, most core microbiotas have been defined based on species occurrence and abundance. Yet, species interactions are also important to identify core microbes, as communities include interacting species. Here, we investigate interconnected bacteria and small protists of the core pelagic microbiota populating a long-term marine-coastal observatory in the Mediterranean Sea over a decade.Versión del edito

Chapter 25 Military Strategies for Samhandling in Unforeseen Situations

"The purpose of this chapter is twofold. Firstly, a rather paradoxical situation will be discussed. Even though most military practitioners seem to agree on the characteristics of war, two almost diametrically-opposed norms for how to samhandle have arisen: a centralized one and a decentralized one. We argue that the decentralized approach, called Auftragstaktik, is the most effective. In the second part of the chapter we discuss the pedagogical challenge of educating personnel to thrive in a decentralized organization, which must operate effectively in unforeseen and threatening environments. Based on the teachings of Moltke the Elder (1800– 1891) and the much more recent writings of Torgersen, Steiro and Saeverot (2015), we argue that a crucial step in educating for the unforeseen is to give the students the opportunity to solve new problems by themselves, gaining experience that is, as far as possible, self-generated and thereby becoming more aware and confident in dealing with new situations.

Militær navigasjon - navigatøren i fokus

Maritim navigasjon blander både vitenskap og kunst. En god navigatør tenker både strategisk, operasjonelt og taktisk. Navigatøren planlegger hver reise nøye, og har inngående kunnskap om sin egen plan. Underveis i seilasen samler navigatøren informasjon fra en rekke kilder, evaluerer denne informasjonen, og bestemmer skipets posisjon. Navigatøren sammenligner deretter posisjonen med sin seilings- plan, sine operative forpliktelser, og sitt eget bestikk. En god navigatør forutser farlige situasjoner i god tid før de oppstår, og holder seg alltid i forkant av sin egen plan. Navigatøren er drillet og klar for øyeblikkelige inngripen og handlinger. Navigatøren leder og forener en rekke ressurser - elektroniske, mekaniske og menneskelige. Navigasjonsmetoder og teknikker varierer med type fartøy, ytre og indre forhold, samt gjeldende betingelser i situasjon og oppdrag. Noen viktige elementer for en vellykket seilas kan ikke læres fra en god bok innen nautikk eller en drivende dyktig lærer i et klasserom. Vitenskapen om navigasjon kan læres, men selve kunsten å navigere utvikles gjennom erfaring. Den norske kystlinjen karakteriseres av langstrakte fjorder, holmer, skjær og et havområde som er kjent som et av verdens mest utfordrende med tanke på vær og vind. Store deler av året er denne kystlinjen mørklagt, mens det deler av sommeren er lyst døgnet rundt. De nordligste områdene er spesielt krevende, med lave temperaturer, sterk vind og åpne havstrekk som gir null beskyttelse fra havets og værets vrede. Dette gjør navigasjon i norske farvann spesiell og utfordrende, særlig for militær navigasjon. Militære fartøy forventes å operere hvor som helst i den norske skjærgård med ekstremt kort reaksjonstid og i høye hastigheter, være «on scene and unseen» og kunne levere effekt i et mål med centimeters presisjon. Dagens militære fartøyer er avanserte skrog med høyteknologiske sensorer og integrerte systemer som skal fungere i høye hastigheter i krevende operasjonsområder. En militær navigatør må kunne utnytte ethvert potensial i fartøy, utstyr, besetning, vær og omgivelser til å skaffe seg en fordel i forhold til motparten. Militær navigasjon handler så- ledes om å bidra til operasjonell overlegenhet gjennom inngående kjennskap til navigasjonstekniske og menneskelige faktorer for optimal yteevne. Riktig anvendelse av ny teknologi som støtter operasjoner i en felles operativ kon- tekst gir økt utnyttelse av våpen og sensorer, gir reduksjon i driftsavbrudd og øker Sjøforsvarets stridsevne. Høyt kunnskapsnivå, robuste ferdigheter og gode holdninger skapes gjennom en grundig utdanning som kombinerer profesjonell veiledning med teori, simulator og praksis. Kombinasjonen mellom sertifiserende nautisk fagutdanning (bachelor) og praktisk militær navigasjon er helt nødvendig for at fremtidens militære navigatører skal få tilført kompetansen de trenger. Kontinuerlig faglig påfyll og nivåkontroller etter ferdig utdanning sørger for at Sjøforsvarets operative evne holder et høyt nivå. Gjennom Sjøforsvarets Navigasjonskompetansesenter blir morgendagens naviga- tører rustet til å møte de utfordringene de treffer om bord på Sjøforsvarets fartøyer, og Sjøforsvarets fartøyer blir rustet til å møte utfordringene de treffer i nasjonale og internasjonale farvann. Vi håper du finner innholdet i denne utgaven av Necesse engasjerende, og vi oppfordrer deg mer enn gjerne til å ta kontakt med forfatteren på epost eller stikke innom Navkomp for en faglig diskusjon for å videreutvikle militær navigasjon. Hvis noen av leserne ønsker å bidra til Necesse, så setter vi stor pris på eksterne relevante bidrag tilsendt redaksjonen

Seasonal dynamics of algae-infecting viruses and their inferred interactions with protists

Viruses are a highly abundant, dynamic, and diverse component of planktonic communities that have key roles in marine ecosystems. We aimed to reveal the diversity and dynamics of marine large dsDNA viruses infecting algae in the Northern Skagerrak, South Norway through the year by metabarcoding, targeting the major capsid protein (MCP) and its correlation to protist diversity and dynamics. Metabarcoding results demonstrated a high diversity of algal viruses compared to previous metabarcoding surveys in Norwegian coastal waters. We obtained 313 putative algal virus operational taxonomic units (vOTUs), all classified by phylogenetic analyses to either the Phycodnaviridae or Mimiviridae families, most of them in clades without any cultured or environmental reference sequences. The viral community showed a clear temporal variation, with some vOTUs persisting for several months. The results indicate co-occurrences between abundant viruses and potential hosts during long periods. This study gives new insights into the virus-algal host dynamics and provides a baseline for future studies of algal virus diversity and temporal dynamics.publishedVersio

Disentangling environmental effects in microbial association networks

Background Ecological interactions among microorganisms are fundamental for ecosystem function, yet they are mostly unknown or poorly understood. High-throughput-omics can indicate microbial interactions through associations across time and space, which can be represented as association networks. Associations could result from either ecological interactions between microorganisms, or from environmental selection, where the association is environmentally driven. Therefore, before downstream analysis and interpretation, we need to distinguish the nature of the association, particularly if it is due to environmental selection or not. Results We present EnDED (environmentally driven edge detection), an implementation of four approaches as well as their combination to predict which links between microorganisms in an association network are environmentally driven. The four approaches are sign pattern, overlap, interaction information, and data processing inequality. We tested EnDED on networks from simulated data of 50 microorganisms. The networks contained on average 50 nodes and 1087 edges, of which 60 were true interactions but 1026 false associations (i.e., environmentally driven or due to chance). Applying each method individually, we detected a moderate to high number of environmentally driven edges—87% sign pattern and overlap, 67% interaction information, and 44% data processing inequality. Combining these methods in an intersection approach resulted in retaining more interactions, both true and false (32% of environmentally driven associations). After validation with the simulated datasets, we applied EnDED on a marine microbial network inferred from 10 years of monthly observations of microbial-plankton abundance. The intersection combination predicted that 8.3% of the associations were environmentally driven, while individual methods predicted 24.8% (data processing inequality), 25.7% (interaction information), and up to 84.6% (sign pattern as well as overlap). The fraction of environmentally driven edges among negative microbial associations in the real network increased rapidly with the number of environmental factors. Conclusions To reach accurate hypotheses about ecological interactions, it is important to determine, quantify, and remove environmentally driven associations in marine microbial association networks. For that, EnDED offers up to four individual methods as well as their combination. However, especially for the intersection combination, we suggest using EnDED with other strategies to reduce the number of false associations and consequently the number of potential interaction hypotheses. Video abstrac

18S rDNA gene metabarcoding of microeukaryotes and epi-endophytes in the holobiome of seven species of large brown algae

Brown algae (Phaeophyceae) are habitat-forming species in coastal ecosystems and include kelp forests and seaweed beds that support a wide diversity of marine life. Host-associated microbial communities are an integral part of phaeophyte biology, and whereas the bacterial microbial partners have received considerable attention, the microbial eukaryotes associated with brown algae have hardly been studied. Here, we used broadly targeted “pan-eukaryotic” primers (metabarcoding) to investigate brown algal-associated eukaryotes (the eukaryome). Using this approach, we aimed to investigate the eukaryome of seven large brown algae that are important and common species in coastal ecosystems. We also aimed to assess whether these macroalgae harbor novel eukaryotic diversity and to ascribe putative functional roles to the host-associated eukaryome based on taxonomic affiliation and phylogenetic placement. We detected a significant diversity of microeukaryotic and algal lineages associated with the brown algal species investigated. The operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were taxonomically assigned to 10 of the eukaryotic major supergroups, including taxonomic groups known to be associated with seaweeds as epibionts, endobionts, parasites, and commensals. Additionally, we revealed previously unrecorded sequence types, including novel phaeophyte OTUs, particularly in the Fucus spp. samples, that may represent fucoid genomic variants, sequencing artifacts, or undescribed epi-/endophytes. Our results provide baseline data and technical insights that will be useful for more comprehensive seaweed eukaryome studies investigating the evidently lineage-rich and functionally diverse symbionts of brown algae.publishedVersio

Hybridization of Atlantic puffins in the Arctic coincides with 20th-century climate change

The Arctic is experiencingthe fastest rates of globalwarming,leadingto shiftsin the distributionof its biotaandincreasingthe potentialfor hybridization. However, genomicevidenceof recenthybridization events in theArctic remainsunexpectedlyrare. Here, we use whole-genomesequencingof contemporary and 122-year-oldhistoricalspecimensto investigate the originof an Arctic hybridpopulation of Atlanticpuffins(Fr aterculaarctica)on Bjørnøya, Norway. We show that the hybridization between the High Arctic, large-bodiedsubspeciesF. a. naumanniand the temperate, smaller-sizedsubspeciesF. a. arcticabeganas recentlyas six generationsagodue to an unexpectedsouthward rangeexpansionofF. a. naumanni.Moreover, we find a significanttemporalloss of geneticdiversityacross Arctic and temperate puffinpopulations.Our observationsprovide compellinggenomicevidenceof the impacts of recentdistributionalshiftsand loss of diversityin Arctic communitiesduringthe 20th century.publishedVersio

Long-term patterns of an interconnected core marine microbiota

Background Ocean microbes constitute ~ 70% of the marine biomass, are responsible for ~ 50% of the Earth’s primary production and are crucial for global biogeochemical cycles. Marine microbiotas include core taxa that are usually key for ecosystem function. Despite their importance, core marine microbes are relatively unknown, which reflects the lack of consensus on how to identify them. So far, most core microbiotas have been defined based on species occurrence and abundance. Yet, species interactions are also important to identify core microbes, as communities include interacting species. Here, we investigate interconnected bacteria and small protists of the core pelagic microbiota populating a long-term marine-coastal observatory in the Mediterranean Sea over a decade. Results Core microbes were defined as those present in \u3e 30% of the monthly samples over 10 years, with the strongest associations. The core microbiota included 259 Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) including 182 bacteria, 77 protists, and 1411 strong and mostly positive (~ 95%) associations. Core bacteria tended to be associated with other bacteria, while core protists tended to be associated with bacteria. The richness and abundance of core OTUs varied annually, decreasing in stratified warmers waters and increasing in colder mixed waters. Most core OTUs had a preference for one season, mostly winter, which featured subnetworks with the highest connectivity. Groups of highly associated taxa tended to include protists and bacteria with predominance in the same season, particularly winter. A group of 13 highly-connected hub-OTUs, with potentially important ecological roles dominated in winter and spring. Similarly, 18 connector OTUs with a low degree but high centrality were mostly associated with summer or autumn and may represent transitions between seasonal communities. Conclusions We found a relatively small and dynamic interconnected core microbiota in a model temperate marine-coastal site, with potential interactions being more deterministic in winter than in other seasons. These core microbes would be essential for the functioning of this ecosystem over the year. Other non-core taxa may also carry out important functions but would be redundant and non-essential. Our work contributes to the understanding of the dynamics and potential interactions of core microbes possibly sustaining ocean ecosystem function