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	( 0.36 ; 0.35 )	( 0.4 ; 0.41 )	( 0.33 ; 0.27 ; 0.27 )
CCT	4600 Kelvin	5100 Kelvin	4600 Kelvin
distance		0.065	0.049
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)	3780 µW/cm² = 37.8 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)	3780 µW/cm² = 37.8 W/m²
UVB (EU) ( 280 nm - 315 nm)	0 µW/cm² = 0 W/m²
UVB (US) ( 280 nm - 320 nm)	0 µW/cm² = 0 W/m²
UVA+B ( 280 nm - 380 nm)	105 µW/cm² = 1.05 W/m²
Solar UVB ( 290 nm - 315 nm)	0 µW/cm² = 0 W/m²
UVA D3 regulating ( 315 nm - 335 nm)	0 µW/cm² = 0 W/m²
UVA (EU) ( 315 nm - 380 nm)	105 µW/cm² = 1.05 W/m²
UVA2 (medical definition) ( 320 nm - 340 nm)	0.219 µW/cm² = 0.00219 W/m²
UVA (US) ( 320 nm - 380 nm)	105 µW/cm² = 1.05 W/m²
UVA1 (variant) ( 335 nm - 380 nm)	105 µW/cm² = 1.05 W/m²
UVA1 (medical) ( 340 nm - 400 nm)	182 µW/cm² = 1.82 W/m²
vis. UVA ( 350 nm - 380 nm)	101 µW/cm² = 1.01 W/m²
VIS Rep3 ( 350 nm - 600 nm)	2330 µW/cm² = 23.3 W/m²
VIS Rep4 ( 350 nm - 700 nm)	3310 µW/cm² = 33.1 W/m²
purple ( 380 nm - 420 nm)	254 µW/cm² = 2.54 W/m²
VIS ( 380 nm - 780 nm)	3490 µW/cm² = 34.9 W/m²
PAR ( 400 nm - 700 nm)	3130 µW/cm² = 31.3 W/m²
blue ( 420 nm - 490 nm)	704 µW/cm² = 7.04 W/m²
green ( 490 nm - 575 nm)	906 µW/cm² = 9.06 W/m²
yellow ( 575 nm - 585 nm)	103 µW/cm² = 1.03 W/m²
orange ( 585 nm - 650 nm)	863 µW/cm² = 8.63 W/m²
red ( 650 nm - 780 nm)	658 µW/cm² = 6.58 W/m²
IRA ( 700 nm - 1400 nm)	467 µW/cm² = 4.67 W/m²
IRB ( 1400 nm - 3000 nm)	0 µW/cm² = 0 W/m²

Erythema	0.0217 UV-Index
Pyrimidine dimerization of DNA	0.0126 µW/cm²
Photoceratitis	0 µW/cm²
Photoconjunctivitis	0 µW/cm²
DNA Damage	7.27E-5
Vitamin D3	0 µW/cm²
Photosynthesis	2170 µW/cm²
Luminosity	9080 lx
Human L-Cone	1380 µW/cm²
Human M-Cone	1090 µW/cm²
Human S-Cone	587 µW/cm²
CIE X	1290 µW/cm²
CIE Y	1260 µW/cm²
CIE Z	1070 µW/cm²
PAR	14700000 mol photons
Extinction preD3	0 e-3*m²/mol
Extinction Tachysterol	0 e-3*m²/mol
Exctincition PreD3	63.7 m²/mol
Extinction Lumisterol	0 m²/mol
Exctincition Tachysterol	1140 m²/mol
Extinction 7DHC	0 m²/mol
L-Cone	1200 µW/cm²
M-Cone	974 µW/cm²
S-Cone	1000 µW/cm²
U-Cone	489 µW/cm²
UVR - ICNIRP 2004	0.0146 Rel Biol Eff
Melatonin Supression	854 µW/cm²
Blue Light Hazard	690 µW/cm² (76 µW/cm² per 1000 lx)
CIE 174:2006 PreVit D3	0 µW/cm²
Lumen Reptil	8760 "pseudo-lx"
Vitamin D3 Degradation	0 µW/cm²
Actinic UV	0.0146 µW/cm² (0.0161 mW/klm)
Exctincition Lumisterol	0 m²/mol
Exctincition 7DHC	0 m²/mol
Exctincition Toxisterols	57.7 m²/mol

Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, pre 2010)	0.672 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UV-Index, pre 2010)	0.00904
Leybold UVB	2.02E-5 µW/cm²
Leybold UVA	76.1 µW/cm²
Leybold UVC	0 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVB	0.329 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVC	0 µW/cm²
Vernier UVB	0 µW/cm²
Vernier UVA	35.2 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVA	80.9 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVB	0.0186 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVC	0 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.4 (D3)	0.0283 IU/min
UVX-31	3.6 µW/cm²
IL UVB	0.000386 µW/cm²
IL UVA	97.9 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UVI, post 2010)	0.00322 UV-Index
Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, post 2010)	0.0269 µW/cm² (Solarmeter Ratio = 8.36)
Solarmeter AlGaN 6.5 UVI sensor	0.028 UV Index
GenUV 7.1 UV-Index	0.0303 UV-Index
Solarmeter 10.0 (Global Power)	41.9 W/m²
Solarmeter 4.0 (UVA)	1.86 mW/cm²
LS122	0.0896 W/m²
ISM400	33.3 W/m²