• Manaswi Bhat V
• Raghavendra B S

Abstract: Phytoplankton are abundant in this world and predominant in the minor and major water bodies all around the world. They are the primary producers playing a key role in influencing the global cycle; by this, they also aid the marine food webs and the freshwater food webs in a larger volume. They are generally photosynthetic in nature and play an important role in the balance of the global carbon cycle. Few various phytoplankton species also play their own unique roles in the global carbon cycle. They can negatively impact the worldwide nations due the variations in various human activities, climate change, increase in temperature, decrease in the concentration of few dissolved gases and other global environmental changes. The overabundance of nutrients can lead to harmful algal blooms. They can release harmful toxins causing various diseases that could be severe for humans and also act as a threat to aquatic life.

Key words: Primary producers, marine food webs, freshwater food webs, global carbon cycle, global environmental changes, algal blooms, toxins, diseases.

"PHYTOPLANKTON: THE ESSENTIAL DRIFTERS OF THE GLOBAL CARBON CYCLE AND DRIVERS OF MARINE DISEASES", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.12, Issue 12, page no.e89-e100, December-2025, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2512408.pdf

"PHYTOPLANKTON: THE ESSENTIAL DRIFTERS OF THE GLOBAL CARBON CYCLE AND DRIVERS OF MARINE DISEASES", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.12, Issue 12, page no. ppe89-e100, December-2025, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2512408.pdf