These expeditions relied on the Vermilion Sea Field Station at Bahia del Los Angeles as their base of operations, which he facilitated and organized.
He was active in transnational conservation efforts to protect the islands as biodiversity sanctuaries in the Gulf of California.
He attended Chaffey Junior College (in Ontario, California) and San Diego State College before finishing his undergraduate degree at Stanford University in 1950; he continued graduate studies at Stanford (studying with Ira L. Wiggins), completing his dissertation on the taxonomy and ecology of the cactus genus Ferocactus in 1955.
[3] Lindsay specialized in desert plants, with field work in Mexico and the western United States.
In 1956, Lindsay became director of the San Diego Natural History Museum, leading research expeditions throughout his tenure.