Brian Axsmith

RESEARCH

My interest in fossil plants (Paleobotany) is driven, in part, by my belief that many of the important questions in vascular plant evolution require paleobotanical answers.

My research focus at this time involves the extinct conifer family Cheirolepidiaceae. During the Mesozoic era (the so-called age of Dinosaurs), these conifers dominated many terrestrial ecosystems, and they evolved several features now seen only among the flowering plants. With the help of a National Science Foundation grant, I am attempting to improve the poor state of knowledge regarding the North American fossil record of this group.

Another research interest involves fossil plants from the Pliocene (~ 2.5 – 3 million years ago) Citronelle Formation in Mobile and Baldwin counties, Alabama. Because the Pliocene record in North America is poor, the local fossils are particularly significant. Some of the important finds so far include : the earliest

post-Eocene record of Carpinus (Ironwood) in North America; leaves and pollen of White Pine (Pinus strobus), which no longer occurs on the Gulf Coastal Plain, and winged nuts of Pterocarya (pictured at left), which is a member of the Walnut family (Juglandaceae) now living only in Asia. The Alabama fossils are the last macrofossil record of this genus in the Western Hemisphere.

Pterocarya sp. winged nut. Citronelle Formation, Mobile County Alabama

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

* The enigmatic Paleozoic plants Spermopteris and Phasmatocycas reconsidered. In press. American Journal of Botany 90: 1585-1595. (B.J. Axsmith, R. Serbet, M. Krings, T.N. Taylor, E.L. Taylor, and S. Mamay - 2003).

* Pollen cones from the Cretaceous of Arkansas: Implications for diversity and pollination biology in the Cheirolepidiaceae. In press. Journal of Paleontology 78: 402-409. (B.J. Axsmith, M. Krings, K. Waselkov - 2004).

* A filmy fern from the Upper Triassic of North Carolina (USA). American Journal of Botany. 88: 1558-1567. (B.J. Axsmith, M. Krings, and T.N. Taylor - 2001).

* New perspectives on the Mesozoic seed fern order Corystospermales based on attached organs from the Triassic of Antarctica. American Journal of Botany 87: 757-768. (B.J. Axsmith, E.L. Taylor, T.N. Taylor, and N. Ruben Cuneo - 2000).

* The limitations of molecular systematics: a paleobotanical perspective. Taxon 47: 105-108. (B.J. Axsmith, E.L. Taylor, and T.N. Taylor - 1998).

* A new fossil conifer from the Triassic of North America: implications for models of ovulate cone scale evolution. International Journal of Plant Sciences 159: 358-366. (B.J. Axsmith, T.N. Taylor, and E.L. Taylor - 1998).

* A Triassic lagerstätte from eastern North America. Nature 380: 615-619. (N.C. Fraser, D.A. Grimaldi, P.E. Olsen, and B.J. Axsmith - 1996).

COURSES TAUGHT