Linkola was docent of botany at Helsinki University 1919–1922. He was professor of botany at University of Turku from 1922, and at Helsinki University from 1925 (in a newly established second chair of botany). He was head of the botanical institute from 1926, dean of the Faculty of Science for two periods (1930–1933 and 1936–1938) and rector of Helsinki University 1938–1941.
In 1921, he edited and distributed the exsiccataNylander and Norrlin, herbarium lichenum Fenniae continuatio with Edvard August Vainio.[1]
Linkola made a unique contribution to the understanding of regeneration in herbaceous plant communities in studying the natural occurrence of seedlings in meadows and on cliffs.[6]
Linkola and his students made a suite of investigations of root architecture. These studies are amongst the earliest in a still oft-neglected field.[7][8][9][10] The last of these reports was published quite a while after Linkola's early death.
^Linkola, K (1916). "Studien über den Einfluss der Kultur auf die Flora in den Gegenden nördlich vom Ladoga-See. I. Allgemeiner Teil". Acta Societatis Pro Fauna et Flora Fennica. 45 (1): 1–429.
^Linkola, K (1916). "Studien über den Einfluss der Kultur auf die Flora in den Gegenden nördlich vom Ladoga-See. II. Spezieller Teil". Acta Societatis Pro Fauna et Flora Fennica. 45 (2): 1–491.
^Hanski, I (1982). "Distributional ecology of anthropochorous plants in villages surrounded by forest". Annales Botanici Fennici. 19: 1–15.
^Linkola, K (1932). "Über das Vorkommen von Samenkeimlinge bei Pollakanthen in den natürlichen Pflanzengesellschaften". Annales Societatis Zoologicae-Botanicae Fennicae Vanamo. 11: 150–172.
^Pykälä, Juha; Kantelinen, Annina; Myllys, Leena (2024). "Seven new species of Verrucaria from calcareous and siliceous rocks of Finland". The Lichenologist. 56 (5): 259–272. doi:10.1017/S002428292400029X.