Reptile Lamp Database

Colorimetry is the science to describe physically the human color perception. The wavelength range 380 nm - 780 nm is visible to humans and detected by three different photoreceptors. Many Reptiles see the range 350 nm - 800 nm and have an additional UV photoreceptor in their retina.

Whereas a spectrometer measures the intensity in every tiny wavelength interval resulting in thousands of individual intensities, the human eye only measures three intensities detected by the three cones. The same is true for the reptile eye with usually three or four photoreceptors. Effectively the detailled spectrum displayed above reduces to a much compacter bar graph displayed below. The photoreceptor sensitivites from these L-Cone, M-Cone, S-Cone, and U-Cone are used, they are chosen as an average of measured reptile photoreceptor sensitivity curves. The bar graph also shows as reference the intensity seen by the three or four photoreceptors for average sunlight (id 1).

From these three numbers the colour coordinate and the correlated colour temperature for humans are calculated using the CIE standard method. I adapted this concept to a "3 cone reptile (M,S,U)" and a "4 cone reptile (L,M,S,U)". I am sure, that this adaption to other colour spaces makes sense mathematically and this is also done in scientific research regarding colour vision of animals, however I have not seen calculation of colour temperatures for other animals in the scientific literature. Even if it is hypothetical, at least this shows, how arbitrary the colour temperature is, and that the colour temperature calculated for humans does not apply to reptiles. The colour spaces also show the colour coordinates of different phases of daylight ((ids 1, 338 – 451, 511 – 513 ), indicated by crosses, coloured in the appriximate colour perceived by a human.

	Human (CIE)	3 cone reptile	4 cone reptile
Cone Excitation
Colour Coordinate	( 0.35 ; 0.41 )	( 0.16 ; 0.38 )	( 0.33 ; 0.11 ; 0.26 )
CCT	5100 Kelvin	93000 Kelvin	5300 Kelvin
distance		0.08	0.18
colour space			3-D-graph not implemented yet

Vitamin D3 is produced by UVB radiation around 300 nm. 7DHC/ProD3 present in the skin is converted to PreD3 when absorbing an UV photon. PreD3 can be converted back to ProD3, to Lumisterol, or to Tachysterol when absorbing another UV photon or can be converted to Vitamin D3 in a warm environment.

This process prevents any overdose of vitamin D3 from UV radiation with a spectrum similar to sunlight. As a comparison the solar spectra at 20°(id:14) and at 85°(id:21) solar angle are shown.

The ratio of the two solarmeters 6.2 (UVB) and 6.5 (UV index) readings has proven a useful and very simply number to acess the spectral shape in the vitamin-d3-active region.

Effective irradiances are calculated for all ranges, actionspectra and radiometers currently present in this database.

The calculation method is a numerical implementation (Simpson's rule) of the formula

To learn more about calculating effective irradiances and radiometers I recommend this excellent report on UVB meters: Characterizing the Performance of Integral Measuring UV-Meters (pdf).

total ( 0 nm - 0 nm)	30500 µW/cm² = 305 W/m²
UVC ( 0 nm - 280 nm)	0 µW/cm² = 0 W/m²
non-terrestrial ( 0 nm - 290 nm)	0 µW/cm² = 0 W/m²
total2 ( 250 nm - 880 nm)	30500 µW/cm² = 305 W/m²
UVB (EU) ( 280 nm - 315 nm)	1160 µW/cm² = 11.6 W/m²
UVB (US) ( 280 nm - 320 nm)	1230 µW/cm² = 12.3 W/m²
UVA+B ( 280 nm - 380 nm)	6550 µW/cm² = 65.5 W/m²
Solar UVB ( 290 nm - 315 nm)	1160 µW/cm² = 11.6 W/m²
UVA D3 regulating ( 315 nm - 335 nm)	824 µW/cm² = 8.24 W/m²
UVA (EU) ( 315 nm - 380 nm)	5400 µW/cm² = 54 W/m²
UVA2 (medical definition) ( 320 nm - 340 nm)	920 µW/cm² = 9.2 W/m²
UVA (US) ( 320 nm - 380 nm)	5320 µW/cm² = 53.2 W/m²
UVA1 (variant) ( 335 nm - 380 nm)	4580 µW/cm² = 45.8 W/m²
UVA1 (medical) ( 340 nm - 400 nm)	4720 µW/cm² = 47.2 W/m²
vis. UVA ( 350 nm - 380 nm)	4210 µW/cm² = 42.1 W/m²
VIS Rep3 ( 350 nm - 600 nm)	25300 µW/cm² = 253 W/m²
VIS Rep4 ( 350 nm - 700 nm)	26600 µW/cm² = 266 W/m²
purple ( 380 nm - 420 nm)	3380 µW/cm² = 33.8 W/m²
VIS ( 380 nm - 780 nm)	23600 µW/cm² = 236 W/m²
PAR ( 400 nm - 700 nm)	22200 µW/cm² = 222 W/m²
blue ( 420 nm - 490 nm)	4240 µW/cm² = 42.4 W/m²
green ( 490 nm - 575 nm)	7340 µW/cm² = 73.4 W/m²
yellow ( 575 nm - 585 nm)	5790 µW/cm² = 57.9 W/m²
orange ( 585 nm - 650 nm)	787 µW/cm² = 7.87 W/m²
red ( 650 nm - 780 nm)	1920 µW/cm² = 19.2 W/m²
IRA ( 700 nm - 1400 nm)	1470 µW/cm² = 14.7 W/m²
IRB ( 1400 nm - 3000 nm)	0 µW/cm² = 0 W/m²

Erythema	51.1 UV-Index
Pyrimidine dimerization of DNA	479 µW/cm²
Photoceratitis	90.8 µW/cm²
Photoconjunctivitis	1.26 µW/cm²
DNA Damage	5.2
Vitamin D3	230 µW/cm²
Photosynthesis	13400 µW/cm²
Luminosity	88700 lx
Human L-Cone	13100 µW/cm²
Human M-Cone	11300 µW/cm²
Human S-Cone	4170 µW/cm²
CIE X	10600 µW/cm²
CIE Y	12600 µW/cm²
CIE Z	7250 µW/cm²
PAR	116000000 mol photons
Extinction preD3	1340 e-3*m²/mol
Extinction Tachysterol	4500 e-3*m²/mol
Exctincition PreD3	599000 m²/mol
Extinction Lumisterol	214 m²/mol
Exctincition Tachysterol	6100000 m²/mol
Extinction 7DHC	197 m²/mol
L-Cone	11300 µW/cm²
M-Cone	3640 µW/cm²
S-Cone	8850 µW/cm²
U-Cone	10800 µW/cm²
UVR - ICNIRP 2004	41.8 Rel Biol Eff
Melatonin Supression	5210 µW/cm²
Blue Light Hazard	4930 µW/cm² (55.6 µW/cm² per 1000 lx)
CIE 174:2006 PreVit D3	239 µW/cm²
Lumen Reptil	78000 "pseudo-lx"
Vitamin D3 Degradation	227 µW/cm²
Actinic UV	41.1 µW/cm² (4.63 mW/klm)
Exctincition Lumisterol	306000 m²/mol
Exctincition 7DHC	273000 m²/mol
Exctincition Toxisterols	85000 m²/mol

Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, pre 2010)	1260 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UV-Index, pre 2010)	60.9
Leybold UVB	1040 µW/cm²
Leybold UVA	3830 µW/cm²
Leybold UVC	0.103 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVB	1610 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVC	201 µW/cm²
Vernier UVB	400 µW/cm²
Vernier UVA	2600 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVA	4840 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVB	584 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVC	-0.464 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.4 (D3)	190 IU/min
UVX-31	1900 µW/cm²
IL UVB	0.531 µW/cm²
IL UVA	4870 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UVI, post 2010)	51.2 UV-Index
Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, post 2010)	723 µW/cm² (Solarmeter Ratio = 14.1)
Solarmeter AlGaN 6.5 UVI sensor	826 UV Index
GenUV 7.1 UV-Index	41.2 UV-Index
Solarmeter 10.0 (Global Power)	271 W/m²
Solarmeter 4.0 (UVA)	68.2 mW/cm²
LS122	0 W/m²
ISM400	171 W/m²