The main research areas of the laboratory are hydrochemical (mineral and biogenic composition, assessment of the quality of water samples and pollution of water bodies with organics and other toxicants);
- Toxicological (determination and analysis of accumulation levels of pollutants (heavy metals, pesticides) in environmental components and indicator animal species;
- Hydrobiological (rotifers, protozoa, lower crustaceans, macrozoobenthos, and, since 2020, phytoplankton. – phytoplankton); analysis of faunal complexes and species populations by their structural-functional and informational characteristics; assessment of water quality by hydrobiological indicators;
- Ichthyological structure of populations and variability of fish in water reservoirs with anthropogenic impact using bioecological and histobiochemical analysis with an assessment of the adverse impact of environmental factors on fish by the level of disturbance of individual development homeostasis and the presence of histopathological disorders;
- population genetic studies of long-billed biptera (Diptera, Nematocerca) and fish; identification of adaptive changes in characteristic species of chironomids and culicids in natural and synanthropic populations;
- study of amphibians of the genus Rana and assessment of the state of the examined populations by morphological and biochemical indicators and fluctuating asymmetry of bilateral traits; – study of populations of small mammals (rodents, voles, hamsters) by a set of indicators including morphometry, morphophysiological, hematological, histological and cytogenetic tests of habitat toxicity for animals and humans.
Laboratory staff are active participants in environmental monitoring of industrial areas, the activities of a number of enterprises and agglomerations of Kazakhstan (JSC “Caspian Pipeline Consortium”, the Kraganda-Temirtau industrial hub, Almaty urbanized area, Balkhash copper smelter, enterprises and organizations “Kazkosmos”, “Roscosmos”, NAC “Kazatomprom”).
In terms of applied work, the laboratory conducts an environmental assessment of the state of various water bodies. For example, in 2020-2022 a grant project “Assessment of ecological state of storage reservoirs of Right-bank Sorbulak channel for development of scientific bases of wastewater disposal” was conducted. We received extensive materials on composition of biota, hydrochemical parameters, content of heavy metals in water, plankton organisms, macrophytes, bottom sediments of water bodies of SSC system, and also feathers and egg shells of water-related bird species. Results of researches are a scientific basis for their commercialization, in particular, from the scientific point of view, explain possibilities and a degree of danger of secondary use of waste water of SAC system accumulators and use of stocks of organic raw materials.