 His discovery of a new alga, "Ectocarpus landeburgii", brought him into communication with William Henry Harvey, to whose 'Phycologia Britannica' he made many contributions; while this discovery of new marine animals, such as the species of "Æolis" and "Lepralia" that bear his name, introduced him to George Johnston of Berwick.For many years he kept a daily register of the temperature, wind and weather, and noted the first flowering of plants and the arrival of migratory birds.He also studied land mollusca and the fossil plants of the neighbouring coal-field, one of which, "Lyginodendron Landsburgii", bears his name.