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 ; 0.31 )	( 0.38 ; 0.46 )	( 0.23 ; 0.29 ; 0.35 )
CCT	9200 Kelvin	5400 Kelvin	6100 Kelvin
distance		0.11	0.095
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)	765 µW/cm² = 7.65 W/m²
UVC ( 0 nm - 280 nm)	0.785 µW/cm² = 0.00785 W/m²
non-terrestrial ( 0 nm - 290 nm)	4.21 µW/cm² = 0.0421 W/m²
total2 ( 250 nm - 880 nm)	765 µW/cm² = 7.65 W/m²
UVB (EU) ( 280 nm - 315 nm)	53.9 µW/cm² = 0.539 W/m²
UVB (US) ( 280 nm - 320 nm)	62.1 µW/cm² = 0.621 W/m²
UVA+B ( 280 nm - 380 nm)	98.9 µW/cm² = 0.989 W/m²
Solar UVB ( 290 nm - 315 nm)	50.5 µW/cm² = 0.505 W/m²
UVA D3 regulating ( 315 nm - 335 nm)	22 µW/cm² = 0.22 W/m²
UVA (EU) ( 315 nm - 380 nm)	45 µW/cm² = 0.45 W/m²
UVA2 (medical definition) ( 320 nm - 340 nm)	16.2 µW/cm² = 0.162 W/m²
UVA (US) ( 320 nm - 380 nm)	36.8 µW/cm² = 0.368 W/m²
UVA1 (variant) ( 335 nm - 380 nm)	23 µW/cm² = 0.23 W/m²
UVA1 (medical) ( 340 nm - 400 nm)	33.5 µW/cm² = 0.335 W/m²
vis. UVA ( 350 nm - 380 nm)	17.8 µW/cm² = 0.178 W/m²
VIS Rep3 ( 350 nm - 600 nm)	525 µW/cm² = 5.25 W/m²
VIS Rep4 ( 350 nm - 700 nm)	646 µW/cm² = 6.46 W/m²
purple ( 380 nm - 420 nm)	56.9 µW/cm² = 0.569 W/m²
VIS ( 380 nm - 780 nm)	659 µW/cm² = 6.59 W/m²
PAR ( 400 nm - 700 nm)	615 µW/cm² = 6.15 W/m²
blue ( 420 nm - 490 nm)	202 µW/cm² = 2.02 W/m²
green ( 490 nm - 575 nm)	200 µW/cm² = 2 W/m²
yellow ( 575 nm - 585 nm)	25.8 µW/cm² = 0.258 W/m²
orange ( 585 nm - 650 nm)	94.6 µW/cm² = 0.946 W/m²
red ( 650 nm - 780 nm)	79.9 µW/cm² = 0.799 W/m²
IRA ( 700 nm - 1400 nm)	37.6 µW/cm² = 0.376 W/m²
IRB ( 1400 nm - 3000 nm)	0 µW/cm² = 0 W/m²

Erythema	9.27 UV-Index
Pyrimidine dimerization of DNA	30.6 µW/cm²
Photoceratitis	14.3 µW/cm²
Photoconjunctivitis	1.6 µW/cm²
DNA Damage	3.62
Vitamin D3	28.6 µW/cm²
Photosynthesis	436 µW/cm²
Luminosity	1650 lx
Human L-Cone	240 µW/cm²
Human M-Cone	218 µW/cm²
Human S-Cone	168 µW/cm²
CIE X	211 µW/cm²
CIE Y	229 µW/cm²
CIE Z	311 µW/cm²
PAR	2890000 mol photons
Extinction preD3	127 e-3*m²/mol
Extinction Tachysterol	457 e-3*m²/mol
Exctincition PreD3	73100 m²/mol
Extinction Lumisterol	73.5 m²/mol
Exctincition Tachysterol	586000 m²/mol
Extinction 7DHC	93.7 m²/mol
L-Cone	195 µW/cm²
M-Cone	242 µW/cm²
S-Cone	292 µW/cm²
U-Cone	106 µW/cm²
UVR - ICNIRP 2004	11.6 Rel Biol Eff
Melatonin Supression	235 µW/cm²
Blue Light Hazard	190 µW/cm² (115 µW/cm² per 1000 lx)
CIE 174:2006 PreVit D3	30.3 µW/cm²
Lumen Reptil	1890 "pseudo-lx"
Vitamin D3 Degradation	16.8 µW/cm²
Actinic UV	11.5 µW/cm² (69.3 mW/klm)
Exctincition Lumisterol	87100 m²/mol
Exctincition 7DHC	110000 m²/mol
Exctincition Toxisterols	8670 m²/mol

Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, pre 2010)	73.4 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UV-Index, pre 2010)	8.6
Leybold UVB	51.8 µW/cm²
Leybold UVA	23.7 µW/cm²
Leybold UVC	0.538 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVB	63.3 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVC	12.9 µW/cm²
Vernier UVB	31.6 µW/cm²
Vernier UVA	35.3 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVA	39.1 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVB	40.8 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVC	0.673 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.4 (D3)	26.9 IU/min
UVX-31	68.1 µW/cm²
IL UVB	0.0326 µW/cm²
IL UVA	31.8 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UVI, post 2010)	5.71 UV-Index
Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, post 2010)	36.5 µW/cm² (Solarmeter Ratio = 6.39)
Solarmeter AlGaN 6.5 UVI sensor	46.6 UV Index
GenUV 7.1 UV-Index	2.35 UV-Index
Solarmeter 10.0 (Global Power)	7.05 W/m²
Solarmeter 4.0 (UVA)	0.561 mW/cm²
LS122	0.00165 W/m²
ISM400	4.62 W/m²