Brian J. Axsmith

Brian J. Axsmith (June 3, 1962 – May 5, 2020) was an American paleobotanist, paleoecologist, and professor of biology at the University of South Alabama, where he taught ecology, evolutionary biology, and the evolution of vascular plants. Axsmith studied the evolutionary history of conifers and vascular plants. He specialized in the Neogene paleobotany of the Gulf Coastal Plain in the present-day United States, especially Alabama and Mississippi, as well as the Mesozoic paleobotany of eastern North America and China.

Life and career Axsmith was raised in suburban Philadelphia. Axmsith obtained his doctorate in biology from the University of Kansas in 1998.