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Improving interdisciplinary research: Ontology and database to structure characteristics of Microplastics (MP)
Summary
Scientists studying microplastics come from many different fields—biology, chemistry, environmental science—and often don't use the same terms or measurement methods, making it hard to combine their findings into a clear picture of health risks. This paper introduces a shared "dictionary" and database system that lets researchers organize and compare data on microplastic size, shape, coating, and breakdown consistently. While this tool doesn't reveal new health effects itself, it's a behind-the-scenes step that could speed up future research connecting microplastic exposure to human health outcomes.
Microplastics (MP) are a major environmental pollutant with highly variable properties. They present challenges to society that attract researchers from various disciplines. Important re-search questions include the transport and fate in the environment, the ecological impact and ecotoxicological effects, and the changing properties of MP exposed to different environments. For this question interdisciplinary research is needed which requires a common conceptual approach for discussing MP. Such an ontology connected to a database, that allows interdisciplinary researchers to exchange and harmonize knowledge, is presented here. The ontology structures the key characteristics of MP particles, including particle properties, material properties, parameters of particle degradation, eco-coronas, and biofilms. Additionally, the ontology enables comprehensible and reproducible research through the documentation of manufacturing processes, sample preparation and measurement techniques. A connection to other MP research topics, such as toxicity studies and environmental transport vie unique MP identifiers opens the door to synergistic effects to achieve a deeper understanding of the interplay of MP properties and their behavior and effects.