Kepentingan monsun terhahap kehidupan burung walet

Monsun boleh dianggap sebagai bayu laut besar-besaran, disebabkan pemanasan bermusim, diikuti hasilnya iaitu timbulnya tekanan rendah terma yang melanda daratan kebenuaan, yang disebabkan oleh amplitud kitaran musim suhu daratan yang lebih besar berbanding lautan berdekatan. Pemanasan berbezaan ini berlaku kerana haba dalam lautan bercampur secara menegak melalui "lapisan bercampur" yang mungkin sedalam 50 meter, melalui tindakan gelora janaan angin dan keapungan, sedangkan permukaan darat perlahan pengaliran habanya, dengan penembusan isyarat bermusim yang lebih kurang sedalam semeter sahaja. Tambahan pula, muatan haba tentu air cecair jauh lebuh tinggi berbanding dengan bahan-bahan yang membentuk daratan. Faktor-faktor tersebut secara bersamanya bererti bahawa muatan haba lapisan yang terlibat dalam kitaran musim adalah lebih besar di atas lautan berbanding di atas daratan, dengan hasilnya iaitu udara di atas daratan lebih cepat memanas berbanding udara di atas lautan. Udara panas di atas daratan cenderung menaik, maka terjadinya kawasan tekanan rendah. Ini menjadikan angin mantap bertiup ke arah daratan, membawa bersamanya udara yang lembap dari dekat permukaan lautan.^[7] Curahan hujan seumpamanya terjadi daripada udara lembap dari lautan yang dinaikkan oleh gunung,^[8] pemanasan permukaan,^[9] penumpuan di permukaan,^[10] capahan di langit, ataupun aliran keluar hasil ribut pada permukaan.^[11] Walaupun begitu, apabila dinaikkan, udara menyejuk kerana tekanan rendah yang mengembang, lalu menyebabkan penyejatan.

Pada musim sejuk, daratan cepat menjadi sejuk, tetapi lautan pula lebih lama menyimpan haba. Udara sejuk di atas daratan menimbulkan kawasan tekanan tinggi yang menghasilkan bayu dari daratan ke lautan.^[7] Monsun adalah ibarat bayu laut dan darat, iaitu istilah yang biasanya memaksudkan kitaran peredaran harian berhampiran kawasan pantai setempat, itupun lebih besar, lebih kuat dan bermusim.^[12]

Lebih besar, lebih kuat dan bermusim!!?

Bagi pemikat walet pantai timur ilmu tentang monsun timur laut, semestinya menjadi pegangan kuat untuk mereka. Monsun ini sangat- sangat mempengaruhi keperluan fisiologi seterusnya behavior atau kelakuan burung walet di negeri kelantan,terengganu dan pahang. Kesan monsun dapat dilihat keatas burung walet seperti penginapan dan pertambahan sarang berkurangan dan tarikan terhadap suara juga turut pudar walaupun anda menggunakan suara yang berharga jutaan ringgit atau rupial. Selain itu masa burung walet pulang ke RBW anda juga agak lewat.
Ilmu tentang monsun dan fisiologi burung walet sepatutnya di dalami oleh pemikat walet pantai timur bagi mengelak anda kagat, keliru,bengun dan panik tentang tingkahlaku burung walet pada monsun timur laut sekarang. 
selamat menimba ilmu..

China alert for BF from Combodia

CHINA - China's quarantine authority announced on Monday that it has ordered strengthened prevention against avian influenza H5N1 after the disease infected five people in Cambodia last month

A 35 yr old man died of BF in Cambodia

CAMBODIA - Cambodia reported on Tuesday that a 35-year-old man died of Avian Influenza H5N1, bringing the death toll to eight and the number of cases to nine in 2013, health officials and victim's family said Tuesday.

Chinese woman dies of bird flu

BEIJING: A woman in southwestern China died of bird flu on Wednesday, state media said, a rare case in the country of a fatality from the H5N1 virus since a major outbreak a decade ago.

The 21-year-old patient from Guiyang passed away 13 days after showing symptoms, Xinhua news agency said, citing the health ministry.

Another city resident, a 31-year-old man who developed signs of the virus around the same time, was reported over the weekend to be in critical condition.

More than 365 people have died of bird flu globally since an 2003 outbreak, the World Health Organisation said in its latest report.

It noted that China has seen one fatal case per year since 2010, down from a total of 25 from 2003 to 2009.

The H5N1 virus typically spreads from birds to humans through direct contact, but experts fear it could mutate into a form transmissible between humans.

Xinhua said neither of the Guiyang residents had come into close contact with birds and their cases appeared to be unrelated.

China is considered one of the nations most at risk from bird flu epidemics because it has the world's biggest poultry population and many chickens in rural areas are kept close to humans.

Separate outbreaks among birds were reported last year in the northern region of Ningxia and the remote northwestern region of Xinjiang, prompting massive culls of chickens.

Bird flu deaths reach five in Cambodia

February 8, 2013 2:05 pm

Phnom Penh - Five people have died from bird flu in Cambodia this year, authorities said Friday, up from three for the whole of 2012.

The fifth fatality from the H5N1 virus was a 5-year-old from Takeo province, who died in hospital on Thursday, said Sonny Inbaraj Krishnan, a spokesman for the World Health Organization (WHO).

A sixth victim recovered in January, he said, adding that no human cases of bird flu have been reported outside Cambodia this year.

A team from the Ministry of Health had travelled to the girl’s village to test residents and advise them on how to avoid infection,he said.

"They will take swabs and draw blood and test it for the virus soas to rule out human-to-human transmission." All human cases of H5N1 have been infected by contact with poultry, but health professionals fear the virus could combine with another or mutate and gain the ability to pass between people.

The authorities in Takeo province in south-eastern Cambodia were also checking that infected birds are not moved. Last month agriculture teams culled 4,700 chickens and ducks in Takeo after another death from the disease.

In 2011 the WHO recorded eight Cambodian deaths from bird flu, the country’s highest toll since the virus was first detected in thecountry in 2005.

The disease has killed 365 people out of 616 infected worldwide in the past decade, the WHO said.//DPA

Registration Open for Animal Science Meeting

UK - Registration is open for the Annual Meeting of the British Association of Animal Science, which will take place at in Nottingham on 16 and 17 April 2013.

'Innovation from animal science – a necessity, not an option' is the theme of this year's conference. 

Organised by BSAS, AVTRW, Animal Science Forum, RBST and WPSA (UK branch), it is the UK's premier conference on animal science, animal health and veterinary science. 

Limited resources, changing climates, the need for sustainable production systems and an ever-discerning public means feeding the world’s growing population is not an easy task. 

To tackle the challenge, global agriculture has to look beyond its traditional practices and adopt a wide range of the latest techniques and technologies available to them. 

This conference will look at how innovative approaches to using bio-technology can help the world’s food producers reach their goals. 

Covering the full range of animal and veterinary science issues, the event will give researchers, teachers, students, vets and policy-makers to the opportunity to learn about the latest developments in animal science and technology. 

Open to newcomers and those already established in animal science, the two-day conference also offers the chance to network in a friendly environment. 

BSAS Annual Meeting 2013 will take place on 16 and 17 April 2013 at the University of Nottingham's Jubilee Campus on Wollarton Road, Nottingham. 

Different states different guideline for swiftlet Farming

Bird's nest production to top RM3.5bn in 2020

• News
  

  2013-01-29 15:24

KOTA KINABALU, Jan 29 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is expected to have 63,000 swiftlet premises in 2020, producing 870 metric tonnes of bird's nest worth RM3.5 billion.

Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Yahya Hussin said this is based on the high value and large potential for swiftlet farming in the country.

He said in 2010 alone, the production of bird's nest was around 290 metric tonnes valued at RM1.2 billion.

"The government has identified swiftlet farming as a high potential industry, and as such, accorded it priority in the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP)," he added.

He was speaking at a ceremony to officiate the opening of the Certification Seminar for good swiftlet Farm Practices Scheme (SALT) here today.

Yahya, who is also the state Agriculture and Food Industries Minister said in Sabah, the production of Edible Bird Nest (EBN) had long been practised, particularly, traditional bird's nest of high quality from caves, including Gua Guomantong and Gua Madai.

He said the export value of bird's nest contributed by Sabah was in the range of about RM13 million to RM17 million annually, with the main markets being Hong Kong and China.

He said apart from caves, the rearing of swiftlets was on the rise. "According to the Sabah Wildlife Department, in just 2009, there were 500 swiftlet premises in the state," he added.

Yahya said however, over the last two years, the market for bird's nest had fallen, following allegations that it contained nitrite which could endanger the health of consumers.

"Following enforcement to ensure zero nitrite by China, the price of bird's nest suffered a sudden fall of up to 50 per cent.

"The Malaysian government however, has discussed with its Chinese counterpart, on ensuring that the quality of bird's nest from the country met the standards set," he added.

Yahya said that for last year, 43 swiftlet premises in the state had met the SALT certification, and in 2013,, the Department of Veterinary Services and Animal Husbandry (JPHPT) had targeted 300 premises.

He expressed the hope that more plants for the processing of bird's nest would be established, making Sabah the main producer of the product of high quality, which also met the standards of importing 

Volunteers wanted for bird flu vaccine trial

Updated Fri Feb 1, 2013 10:38am 

PHOTO: Researchers are hoping to find the smallest dose of the vaccine needed for human protection in order to create a stockpile as insurance against a global bird flu pandemic.(Lateline)

MAP: Sydney 2000

Researchers in Newcastle are doing their bit to help protect the world against a potentially deadly outbreak of the bird flu virus.

Only about 600 people worldwide are known to have had the virus but it carries a mortality rate of three in five.

That has got the United States government concerned and it is funding a global vaccine project being trialled in humans.

Newcastle's Hunter Clinical Research is one of the centre that has been chosen to take part.

It is looking for volunteers to undergo human trials of an H5N1 vaccine which could be stockpiled in readiness for a global pandemic.

Principal researcher, Dr Marc Russo, says the vaccine trial is important, despite there being no imminent threat from bird flu.

"The insurance policy is that should there be a mutation in the virus, and the virus does undergo regular mutation," he said.

"If it does mutate and we get human to human transmission then we would be looking at millions of infections and potentially a very large number of deaths."

Researchers are hoping to find out the smallest dose of the vaccine needed for human protection.

They hope to have the results within two years.