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	( 0.33 ; 0.34 )	( 0.41 ; 0.37 )	( 0.28 ; 0.3 ; 0.27 )
CCT	5800 Kelvin	4700 Kelvin	5200 Kelvin
distance		0.03	0.031
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)	3620 µW/cm² = 36.2 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)	3570 µW/cm² = 35.7 W/m²
UVB (EU) ( 280 nm - 315 nm)	0.793 µW/cm² = 0.00793 W/m²
UVB (US) ( 280 nm - 320 nm)	5.68 µW/cm² = 0.0568 W/m²
UVA+B ( 280 nm - 380 nm)	182 µW/cm² = 1.82 W/m²
Solar UVB ( 290 nm - 315 nm)	0.793 µW/cm² = 0.00793 W/m²
UVA D3 regulating ( 315 nm - 335 nm)	35.6 µW/cm² = 0.356 W/m²
UVA (EU) ( 315 nm - 380 nm)	181 µW/cm² = 1.81 W/m²
UVA2 (medical definition) ( 320 nm - 340 nm)	43.5 µW/cm² = 0.435 W/m²
UVA (US) ( 320 nm - 380 nm)	176 µW/cm² = 1.76 W/m²
UVA1 (variant) ( 335 nm - 380 nm)	145 µW/cm² = 1.45 W/m²
UVA1 (medical) ( 340 nm - 400 nm)	208 µW/cm² = 2.08 W/m²
vis. UVA ( 350 nm - 380 nm)	104 µW/cm² = 1.04 W/m²
VIS Rep3 ( 350 nm - 600 nm)	1700 µW/cm² = 17 W/m²
VIS Rep4 ( 350 nm - 700 nm)	2360 µW/cm² = 23.6 W/m²
purple ( 380 nm - 420 nm)	199 µW/cm² = 1.99 W/m²
VIS ( 380 nm - 780 nm)	2770 µW/cm² = 27.7 W/m²
PAR ( 400 nm - 700 nm)	2180 µW/cm² = 21.8 W/m²
blue ( 420 nm - 490 nm)	541 µW/cm² = 5.41 W/m²
green ( 490 nm - 575 nm)	668 µW/cm² = 6.68 W/m²
yellow ( 575 nm - 585 nm)	77.3 µW/cm² = 0.773 W/m²
orange ( 585 nm - 650 nm)	465 µW/cm² = 4.65 W/m²
red ( 650 nm - 780 nm)	816 µW/cm² = 8.16 W/m²
IRA ( 700 nm - 1400 nm)	1180 µW/cm² = 11.8 W/m²
IRB ( 1400 nm - 3000 nm)	0 µW/cm² = 0 W/m²

Erythema	0.103 UV-Index
Pyrimidine dimerization of DNA	1.5 µW/cm²
Photoceratitis	0.0401 µW/cm²
Photoconjunctivitis	0 µW/cm²
DNA Damage	0.000867
Vitamin D3	0.0954 µW/cm²
Photosynthesis	1550 µW/cm²
Luminosity	5920 lx
Human L-Cone	884 µW/cm²
Human M-Cone	739 µW/cm²
Human S-Cone	440 µW/cm²
CIE X	793 µW/cm²
CIE Y	821 µW/cm²
CIE Z	818 µW/cm²
PAR	10300000 mol photons
Extinction preD3	5.69 e-3*m²/mol
Extinction Tachysterol	23.9 e-3*m²/mol
Exctincition PreD3	3850 m²/mol
Extinction Lumisterol	0.00156 m²/mol
Exctincition Tachysterol	51600 m²/mol
Extinction 7DHC	0 m²/mol
L-Cone	752 µW/cm²
M-Cone	801 µW/cm²
S-Cone	718 µW/cm²
U-Cone	423 µW/cm²
UVR - ICNIRP 2004	0.0514 Rel Biol Eff
Melatonin Supression	672 µW/cm²
Blue Light Hazard	504 µW/cm² (85.1 µW/cm² per 1000 lx)
CIE 174:2006 PreVit D3	0.0513 µW/cm²
Lumen Reptil	6240 "pseudo-lx"
Vitamin D3 Degradation	1.33 µW/cm²
Actinic UV	0.0515 µW/cm² (0.0869 mW/klm)
Exctincition Lumisterol	245 m²/mol
Exctincition 7DHC	45.8 m²/mol
Exctincition Toxisterols	1250 m²/mol

Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, pre 2010)	11 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UV-Index, pre 2010)	0.0785
Leybold UVB	6.06 µW/cm²
Leybold UVA	133 µW/cm²
Leybold UVC	0 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVB	35.3 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVC	3.16 µW/cm²
Vernier UVB	0.252 µW/cm²
Vernier UVA	96 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVA	147 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVB	2.07 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVC	-0.00219 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.4 (D3)	0.245 IU/min
UVX-31	42.4 µW/cm²
IL UVB	0.00585 µW/cm²
IL UVA	154 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UVI, post 2010)	0.068 UV-Index
Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, post 2010)	9.08 µW/cm² (Solarmeter Ratio = 134)
Solarmeter AlGaN 6.5 UVI sensor	1.29 UV Index
GenUV 7.1 UV-Index	0.161 UV-Index
Solarmeter 10.0 (Global Power)	43.7 W/m²
Solarmeter 4.0 (UVA)	2.51 mW/cm²
LS122	0.811 W/m²
ISM400	40.9 W/m²