{"id":35056,"date":"2014-03-12T08:59:52","date_gmt":"2014-03-12T13:59:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=35056"},"modified":"2014-03-12T08:59:52","modified_gmt":"2014-03-12T13:59:52","slug":"how-a-common-fungus-is-protecting-the-earth-from-a-climate-change-nightmare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2014\/03\/12\/how-a-common-fungus-is-protecting-the-earth-from-a-climate-change-nightmare\/","title":{"rendered":"How a Common Fungus Is Protecting the Earth from a Climate Change Nightmare"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Just<\/a>

Photo Courtesy of Colin Averill<\/p>

Just a couple of the many fungi that UT PhD student Colin Averill encounters in his work.<\/p><\/div>\n

There is more carbon dioxide stored in the ground than in the air around us. If those all that greenhouse gas escapes, it could be catastrophic for the earth. Now, a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin thinks he\u2019s found the key that keeps much of it locked away.<\/p>\n

It’s research that could revolutionize how we understands climate change, and potentially help us combat it, and it all has to do with a feast happening just under your feet.<\/p>\n

Colin Averill, a PhD student in the program of Ecology Evolution and Behavior at UT Austin<\/a>, says there are a handful of creatures partaking in that feast, and their competition for food regulates the flow of carbon dioxide between the soil and the atmosphere.<\/p>\n