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 ; 0.32 )	( 0.39 ; 0.4 )	( 0.27 ; 0.28 ; 0.29 )
CCT	6600 Kelvin	5100 Kelvin	5300 Kelvin
distance		0.062	0.046
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)	639 µW/cm² = 6.39 W/m²
UVC ( 0 nm - 280 nm)	1.26 µW/cm² = 0.0126 W/m²
non-terrestrial ( 0 nm - 290 nm)	2.08 µW/cm² = 0.0208 W/m²
total2 ( 250 nm - 880 nm)	639 µW/cm² = 6.39 W/m²
UVB (EU) ( 280 nm - 315 nm)	121 µW/cm² = 1.21 W/m²
UVB (US) ( 280 nm - 320 nm)	127 µW/cm² = 1.27 W/m²
UVA+B ( 280 nm - 380 nm)	132 µW/cm² = 1.32 W/m²
Solar UVB ( 290 nm - 315 nm)	120 µW/cm² = 1.2 W/m²
UVA D3 regulating ( 315 nm - 335 nm)	10.3 µW/cm² = 0.103 W/m²
UVA (EU) ( 315 nm - 380 nm)	11.7 µW/cm² = 0.117 W/m²
UVA2 (medical definition) ( 320 nm - 340 nm)	4.16 µW/cm² = 0.0416 W/m²
UVA (US) ( 320 nm - 380 nm)	5.34 µW/cm² = 0.0534 W/m²
UVA1 (variant) ( 335 nm - 380 nm)	1.45 µW/cm² = 0.0145 W/m²
UVA1 (medical) ( 340 nm - 400 nm)	34.2 µW/cm² = 0.342 W/m²
vis. UVA ( 350 nm - 380 nm)	0.861 µW/cm² = 0.00861 W/m²
VIS Rep3 ( 350 nm - 600 nm)	407 µW/cm² = 4.07 W/m²
VIS Rep4 ( 350 nm - 700 nm)	500 µW/cm² = 5 W/m²
purple ( 380 nm - 420 nm)	64.1 µW/cm² = 0.641 W/m²
VIS ( 380 nm - 780 nm)	505 µW/cm² = 5.05 W/m²
PAR ( 400 nm - 700 nm)	466 µW/cm² = 4.66 W/m²
blue ( 420 nm - 490 nm)	137 µW/cm² = 1.37 W/m²
green ( 490 nm - 575 nm)	156 µW/cm² = 1.56 W/m²
yellow ( 575 nm - 585 nm)	20.7 µW/cm² = 0.207 W/m²
orange ( 585 nm - 650 nm)	98.9 µW/cm² = 0.989 W/m²
red ( 650 nm - 780 nm)	28.1 µW/cm² = 0.281 W/m²
IRA ( 700 nm - 1400 nm)	7.23 µW/cm² = 0.0723 W/m²
IRB ( 1400 nm - 3000 nm)	0 µW/cm² = 0 W/m²

Erythema	16.4 UV-Index
Pyrimidine dimerization of DNA	87.9 µW/cm²
Photoceratitis	23 µW/cm²
Photoconjunctivitis	1.79 µW/cm²
DNA Damage	3.63
Vitamin D3	65 µW/cm²
Photosynthesis	315 µW/cm²
Luminosity	1420 lx
Human L-Cone	211 µW/cm²
Human M-Cone	180 µW/cm²
Human S-Cone	115 µW/cm²
CIE X	190 µW/cm²
CIE Y	198 µW/cm²
CIE Z	222 µW/cm²
PAR	2180000 mol photons
Extinction preD3	244 e-3*m²/mol
Extinction Tachysterol	813 e-3*m²/mol
Exctincition PreD3	121000 m²/mol
Extinction Lumisterol	98.7 m²/mol
Exctincition Tachysterol	1030000 m²/mol
Extinction 7DHC	103 m²/mol
L-Cone	176 µW/cm²
M-Cone	183 µW/cm²
S-Cone	188 µW/cm²
U-Cone	96.2 µW/cm²
UVR - ICNIRP 2004	17.1 Rel Biol Eff
Melatonin Supression	169 µW/cm²
Blue Light Hazard	124 µW/cm² (87.4 µW/cm² per 1000 lx)
CIE 174:2006 PreVit D3	72.8 µW/cm²
Lumen Reptil	1500 "pseudo-lx"
Vitamin D3 Degradation	32.9 µW/cm²
Actinic UV	16.7 µW/cm² (118 mW/klm)
Exctincition Lumisterol	120000 m²/mol
Exctincition 7DHC	125000 m²/mol
Exctincition Toxisterols	14900 m²/mol

Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, pre 2010)	144 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UV-Index, pre 2010)	18.4
Leybold UVB	118 µW/cm²
Leybold UVA	4.99 µW/cm²
Leybold UVC	0.942 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVB	106 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVC	22.5 µW/cm²
Vernier UVB	82.9 µW/cm²
Vernier UVA	25.2 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVA	18.2 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVB	91.8 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVC	1 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.4 (D3)	57.4 IU/min
UVX-31	123 µW/cm²
IL UVB	0.0658 µW/cm²
IL UVA	8.11 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UVI, post 2010)	13.6 UV-Index
Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, post 2010)	69 µW/cm² (Solarmeter Ratio = 5.08)
Solarmeter AlGaN 6.5 UVI sensor	112 UV Index
GenUV 7.1 UV-Index	5.23 UV-Index
Solarmeter 10.0 (Global Power)	5.41 W/m²
Solarmeter 4.0 (UVA)	0.382 mW/cm²
LS122	0.0018 W/m²
ISM400	3.25 W/m²