His surveys of the lichens of London in the late 1960s were the first to map species distributions relative to atmospheric sulphur dioxide levels.
[6] His records from gravestones demonstrated that lichen communities were retained on old memorials but did not colonise new ones.
[1] He edited The London Naturalist from 1971 until 1979 and the Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Botany Series from 1977 until 1990.
[1] He was required to retire in 1990 as part of restructuring at the museum as it moved away from taxonomy,[7] but he continued to be very active with lichens and Northamptonshire local history, including authoring several publications, until mid-December 2016, shortly before his death.
[12] Trees were planted in his memory by the Kettering and District Natural History Society at Twywell Hills and Dales in November 2019[13] Some of Laundon's publications include: