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	( 0.28 ; 0.3 )	( 0.36 ; 0.45 )	( 0.23 ; 0.28 ; 0.35 )
CCT	9500 Kelvin	5700 Kelvin	6300 Kelvin
distance		0.11	0.092
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)	736 µW/cm² = 7.36 W/m²
UVC ( 0 nm - 280 nm)	0.164 µW/cm² = 0.00164 W/m²
non-terrestrial ( 0 nm - 290 nm)	1.26 µW/cm² = 0.0126 W/m²
total2 ( 250 nm - 880 nm)	736 µW/cm² = 7.36 W/m²
UVB (EU) ( 280 nm - 315 nm)	61.5 µW/cm² = 0.615 W/m²
UVB (US) ( 280 nm - 320 nm)	75.2 µW/cm² = 0.752 W/m²
UVA+B ( 280 nm - 380 nm)	131 µW/cm² = 1.31 W/m²
Solar UVB ( 290 nm - 315 nm)	60.4 µW/cm² = 0.604 W/m²
UVA D3 regulating ( 315 nm - 335 nm)	37.9 µW/cm² = 0.379 W/m²
UVA (EU) ( 315 nm - 380 nm)	69.2 µW/cm² = 0.692 W/m²
UVA2 (medical definition) ( 320 nm - 340 nm)	28.4 µW/cm² = 0.284 W/m²
UVA (US) ( 320 nm - 380 nm)	55.6 µW/cm² = 0.556 W/m²
UVA1 (variant) ( 335 nm - 380 nm)	31.4 µW/cm² = 0.314 W/m²
UVA1 (medical) ( 340 nm - 400 nm)	40.7 µW/cm² = 0.407 W/m²
vis. UVA ( 350 nm - 380 nm)	22.1 µW/cm² = 0.221 W/m²
VIS Rep3 ( 350 nm - 600 nm)	493 µW/cm² = 4.93 W/m²
VIS Rep4 ( 350 nm - 700 nm)	597 µW/cm² = 5.97 W/m²
purple ( 380 nm - 420 nm)	57.1 µW/cm² = 0.571 W/m²
VIS ( 380 nm - 780 nm)	600 µW/cm² = 6 W/m²
PAR ( 400 nm - 700 nm)	561 µW/cm² = 5.61 W/m²
blue ( 420 nm - 490 nm)	187 µW/cm² = 1.87 W/m²
green ( 490 nm - 575 nm)	182 µW/cm² = 1.82 W/m²
yellow ( 575 nm - 585 nm)	24.7 µW/cm² = 0.247 W/m²
orange ( 585 nm - 650 nm)	82.1 µW/cm² = 0.821 W/m²
red ( 650 nm - 780 nm)	67.6 µW/cm² = 0.676 W/m²
IRA ( 700 nm - 1400 nm)	30.4 µW/cm² = 0.304 W/m²
IRB ( 1400 nm - 3000 nm)	0 µW/cm² = 0 W/m²

Erythema	8.03 UV-Index
Pyrimidine dimerization of DNA	37.7 µW/cm²
Photoceratitis	12.1 µW/cm²
Photoconjunctivitis	0.671 µW/cm²
DNA Damage	1.89
Vitamin D3	28.5 µW/cm²
Photosynthesis	398 µW/cm²
Luminosity	1510 lx
Human L-Cone	219 µW/cm²
Human M-Cone	200 µW/cm²
Human S-Cone	157 µW/cm²
CIE X	192 µW/cm²
CIE Y	209 µW/cm²
CIE Z	288 µW/cm²
PAR	2650000 mol photons
Extinction preD3	122 e-3*m²/mol
Extinction Tachysterol	436 e-3*m²/mol
Exctincition PreD3	62300 m²/mol
Extinction Lumisterol	51.5 m²/mol
Exctincition Tachysterol	561000 m²/mol
Extinction 7DHC	62.1 m²/mol
L-Cone	177 µW/cm²
M-Cone	218 µW/cm²
S-Cone	274 µW/cm²
U-Cone	112 µW/cm²
UVR - ICNIRP 2004	8.79 Rel Biol Eff
Melatonin Supression	217 µW/cm²
Blue Light Hazard	177 µW/cm² (118 µW/cm² per 1000 lx)
CIE 174:2006 PreVit D3	30.8 µW/cm²
Lumen Reptil	1750 "pseudo-lx"
Vitamin D3 Degradation	17.6 µW/cm²
Actinic UV	8.67 µW/cm² (57.5 mW/klm)
Exctincition Lumisterol	62700 m²/mol
Exctincition 7DHC	74900 m²/mol
Exctincition Toxisterols	7240 m²/mol

Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, pre 2010)	85.7 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UV-Index, pre 2010)	8.19
Leybold UVB	64.7 µW/cm²
Leybold UVA	34.5 µW/cm²
Leybold UVC	0.182 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVB	85.1 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVC	14.8 µW/cm²
Vernier UVB	35.7 µW/cm²
Vernier UVA	55.2 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVA	58.3 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVB	44.8 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVC	0.151 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.4 (D3)	25.6 IU/min
UVX-31	91.7 µW/cm²
IL UVB	0.0369 µW/cm²
IL UVA	45.9 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UVI, post 2010)	5.83 UV-Index
Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, post 2010)	46.3 µW/cm² (Solarmeter Ratio = 7.93)
Solarmeter AlGaN 6.5 UVI sensor	53.6 UV Index
GenUV 7.1 UV-Index	2.69 UV-Index
Solarmeter 10.0 (Global Power)	6.49 W/m²
Solarmeter 4.0 (UVA)	0.753 mW/cm²
LS122	0.00112 W/m²
ISM400	4.1 W/m²