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 exsiccata Nylander and Norrlin, herbarium lichenum Fenniae continuatio with Edvard August Vainio.

[1] Linkola's doctoral dissertation (1916) dealt with the impact of culture of vegetation in Southern Karelia.

[2][3] Much later Ilkka Hanski used Linkola's data on plants associated with villages isolated in the boreal forest landscape matrix to illustrate his core-satellite species hypothesis.

[4][5] 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.