Microplastics, tiny plastic particles that result from both product development and the breakdown of larger plastics, are of increasing global concern as we learn that they are now ubiquitous in marine environments and may have hazardous ecological and health impacts. Despite a growing amount of microplastics-related research, we still lack a clear, comprehensive overview of the problem and associated potential risks. Part of the challenge is a lack of standardization in microplastics data management. This makes it difficult to compare and analyze datasets.
Two research teams at the University of Waterloo - The Ecohydrology Research Group and Smith Research Group - have come together based on a common interest in advancing data management in the field of microplastics. They recognize that the lack of accepted international data governance standards not only makes it difficult for them to share their findings in open datasets, but it also limits the ability of end-users to access research results and react accordingly.
With the generous support of the generous Compute Ontario grant, the research team developed a comprehensive framework for environmental microplastics research data management (RDM), by developing an open-source metadata template. Though still in its early stages, the team hopes the template will help standardize environmental microplastics RDM and, therefore advance the sharing and comparative analysis of datasets collected across the world.
The process was collaborative, consensus-based and involved multiple stakeholders Additionally, this project brought together many microplastics researchers around the globe through a workshop titled “Maximizing the Value of Environmental Microplastics Data”, co-hosted by the project partners, the University of Waterloo’s Water Institute, the Federated Research Data Repository (FRDR), and the Gordon Foundation, over 50 microplastics researchers and data experts explored how the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) could be applied to microplastics data to improve data management. Discussions focused on how accessibility of microplastics data could be improved through data repositories and the application of data standards.
The research team is committed to ongoing development of the template and collaborations with partners and researchers, including in the following ways:
- Immediately begin to stress test the template by adding data from our project. This includes atmospheric and lake core samples.
- Train our research team, including students, on how to use the template.
- Engage with other microplastics research groups within and external to the University of Waterloo to see if they are interested in using the template and providing feedback.
- Develop a process to seek feedback from those who are testing the template in order to make improvements.
- Investigate opportunities for additional funding to support additional work (e.g., automation of certain aspects of the template, data visualization projects, development and delivery of a student training program, publications)
- In the long-term, share data resulting from the project on appropriate open access data portals and in data journals
- Continued engagement with FRDR and DataStream to identify opportunities to support FAIRness of microplastics data
This work continues under the umbrella of a three-year project entitled, Microplastics Fingerprinting at the watershed scale: from sources to receivers. Improving data management and standardization is key to not only getting a complete picture of the fate of plastic debris and its effect on human health and the environment, but also in determining appropriate mitigation strategies moving forward.
To learn more, read the corresponding workshop report, entitled Maximizing the Value of Environmental Microplastics Data.