Kaarlo Linkola (surname until 1906 Collan; 1888–1942) was a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

botanist and phytogeographer. Linkola was docent of

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

at Helsinki University 1919–1922. He was professor of

University of Turku sv, Åbo universitet , latin_name = Universitas Aboensis , image_name = University of Turku.svg , motto = ''Vapaan kansan lahja vapaalle tieteelle'' , established = 1920 , type ...

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. Linkola's doctoral dissertation (1916) dealt with the impact of culture of

vegetation Vegetation is an assemblage of plant species and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characte ...

in Southern Karelia. Much later

Ilkka Hanski Ilkka Aulis Hanski (14 February 1953 – 10 May 2016) was a Finnish ecologist at the University of Helsinki, Finland. The Metapopulation Research Center led by Hanski, until his death, has been nominated as a Center of Excellence by the Academy ...

used Linkola's data on plants associated with villages isolated in the

boreal forest Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruc ...

landscape matrix to illustrate his core-satellite hypothesis. 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. Linkola and his students made a suite of investigations of root architecture. These studies are amongst the earliest in a still oft-neglected field. The last of these reports was published quite a while after Linkola's early death. Kaarlo Linkola was member of the

Finnish Academy of Science and Letters The Finnish Academy of Science and Letters (Finnish ''Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia''; Latin ''Academia Scientiarum Fennica'') is a Finnish learned society. It was founded in 1908 and is thus the second oldest academy in Finland. The oldest is the Fi ...

. He co-founded the ''Finnish Union for Nature Protection'' and was its first chairman. He was father of

Pentti Linkola Kaarlo Pentti Linkola (7 December 1932 – 5 April 2020) was a prominent Finnish deep ecologist, ornithologist, polemicist, naturalist, writer, and fisherman. He wrote widely about his ideas and in Finland was a prominent thinker.George C. ...

. He is buried in the Hietaniemi Cemetery in Helsinki.

Sources

Bo-Jungar Wikgren: "Pages of the History of Biology in Finland"

Selected scientific works

{{DEFAULTSORT:Linkola, Kaarlo 1888 births 1942 deaths People from Joensuu People from Kuopio Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) 20th-century Finnish botanists Finnish ecologists University of Helsinki alumni Academic personnel of the University of Helsinki Burials at Hietaniemi Cemetery Rectors of the University of Helsinki