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	( 0.31 ; 0.31 )	( 0.4 ; 0.45 )	( 0.26 ; 0.29 ; 0.33 )
CCT	6800 Kelvin	5100 Kelvin	5400 Kelvin
distance		0.11	0.081
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)	752 µW/cm² = 7.52 W/m²
UVC ( 0 nm - 280 nm)	0.433 µW/cm² = 0.00433 W/m²
non-terrestrial ( 0 nm - 290 nm)	0.56 µW/cm² = 0.0056 W/m²
total2 ( 250 nm - 880 nm)	752 µW/cm² = 7.52 W/m²
UVB (EU) ( 280 nm - 315 nm)	11.1 µW/cm² = 0.111 W/m²
UVB (US) ( 280 nm - 320 nm)	19.3 µW/cm² = 0.193 W/m²
UVA+B ( 280 nm - 380 nm)	107 µW/cm² = 1.07 W/m²
Solar UVB ( 290 nm - 315 nm)	11 µW/cm² = 0.11 W/m²
UVA D3 regulating ( 315 nm - 335 nm)	37.6 µW/cm² = 0.376 W/m²
UVA (EU) ( 315 nm - 380 nm)	95.9 µW/cm² = 0.959 W/m²
UVA2 (medical definition) ( 320 nm - 340 nm)	41.1 µW/cm² = 0.411 W/m²
UVA (US) ( 320 nm - 380 nm)	87.8 µW/cm² = 0.878 W/m²
UVA1 (variant) ( 335 nm - 380 nm)	58.3 µW/cm² = 0.583 W/m²
UVA1 (medical) ( 340 nm - 400 nm)	57.1 µW/cm² = 0.571 W/m²
vis. UVA ( 350 nm - 380 nm)	28.2 µW/cm² = 0.282 W/m²
VIS Rep3 ( 350 nm - 600 nm)	524 µW/cm² = 5.24 W/m²
VIS Rep4 ( 350 nm - 700 nm)	651 µW/cm² = 6.51 W/m²
purple ( 380 nm - 420 nm)	47.4 µW/cm² = 0.474 W/m²
VIS ( 380 nm - 780 nm)	638 µW/cm² = 6.38 W/m²
PAR ( 400 nm - 700 nm)	612 µW/cm² = 6.12 W/m²
blue ( 420 nm - 490 nm)	202 µW/cm² = 2.02 W/m²
green ( 490 nm - 575 nm)	199 µW/cm² = 1.99 W/m²
yellow ( 575 nm - 585 nm)	19.7 µW/cm² = 0.197 W/m²
orange ( 585 nm - 650 nm)	138 µW/cm² = 1.38 W/m²
red ( 650 nm - 780 nm)	31 µW/cm² = 0.31 W/m²
IRA ( 700 nm - 1400 nm)	22 µW/cm² = 0.22 W/m²
IRB ( 1400 nm - 3000 nm)	0 µW/cm² = 0 W/m²

Erythema	0.732 UV-Index
Pyrimidine dimerization of DNA	6.23 µW/cm²
Photoceratitis	1.05 µW/cm²
Photoconjunctivitis	0.412 µW/cm²
DNA Damage	0.501
Vitamin D3	2.25 µW/cm²
Photosynthesis	427 µW/cm²
Luminosity	1820 lx
Human L-Cone	271 µW/cm²
Human M-Cone	229 µW/cm²
Human S-Cone	164 µW/cm²
CIE X	249 µW/cm²
CIE Y	251 µW/cm²
CIE Z	304 µW/cm²
PAR	2840000 mol photons
Extinction preD3	22.9 e-3*m²/mol
Extinction Tachysterol	76.8 e-3*m²/mol
Exctincition PreD3	13300 m²/mol
Extinction Lumisterol	5.36 m²/mol
Exctincition Tachysterol	113000 m²/mol
Extinction 7DHC	5.81 m²/mol
L-Cone	223 µW/cm²
M-Cone	246 µW/cm²
S-Cone	278 µW/cm²
U-Cone	98.3 µW/cm²
UVR - ICNIRP 2004	0.767 Rel Biol Eff
Melatonin Supression	231 µW/cm²
Blue Light Hazard	184 µW/cm² (101 µW/cm² per 1000 lx)
CIE 174:2006 PreVit D3	2.39 µW/cm²
Lumen Reptil	1950 "pseudo-lx"
Vitamin D3 Degradation	3.7 µW/cm²
Actinic UV	0.764 µW/cm² (4.2 mW/klm)
Exctincition Lumisterol	6730 m²/mol
Exctincition 7DHC	6470 m²/mol
Exctincition Toxisterols	3820 m²/mol

Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, pre 2010)	24 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UV-Index, pre 2010)	0.691
Leybold UVB	16.3 µW/cm²
Leybold UVA	63.6 µW/cm²
Leybold UVC	0.341 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVB	45.6 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVC	5.57 µW/cm²
Vernier UVB	4.34 µW/cm²
Vernier UVA	67.9 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVA	80.7 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVB	7.57 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVC	0.351 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.4 (D3)	2.16 IU/min
UVX-31	49.6 µW/cm²
IL UVB	0.0102 µW/cm²
IL UVA	71.2 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UVI, post 2010)	0.597 UV-Index
Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, post 2010)	16.6 µW/cm² (Solarmeter Ratio = 27.9)
Solarmeter AlGaN 6.5 UVI sensor	8.99 UV Index
GenUV 7.1 UV-Index	0.551 UV-Index
Solarmeter 10.0 (Global Power)	6.85 W/m²
Solarmeter 4.0 (UVA)	0.982 mW/cm²
LS122	0.00306 W/m²
ISM400	4.29 W/m²