At the University of Alberta, Vitt was from 1970 to 1975 an assistant professor, from 1975 to 1980 an associate professor, and from 1980 to 2000 a full professor. He became in 1970 a curator at the University of Alberta's Cryptogamic Herbarium and has continued the curatorial appointment to the present. From 1992 to 2000 he was the director of the Devonian Botanic Garden, now called the University of Alberta Botanic Garden. From 2000 to 2011 at Southern Illinois University, he was a professor and chair of the plant biology program. He retired as professor emeritus in 2011. He was a visiting professor in 1971 at the University of Michigan Biological Station and in 1981 at the University of Minnesota and at the University of New South Wales.[4]
Vitt has collected mosses not only in the United States and Canada, but also in the Canary Islands, Australia, New Zealand, Vanuatu, Fiji, Brazil, Peru, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Jamaica, China, Japan, and Asiatic Russia. He has been a co-collector with Richard Edward Andrus, Diana Gail Horton, and Timo Juhani Koponen.[3] In July 1971 while collecting mosses on Devon Island, Vitt suffered two broken ribs from an encounter with a musk ox. In the winter of 1971–1972 he went to the Auckland Islands on a two-month expedition led by Henry Imshaug. On this expedition Vitt climbed a tree to escape an attack from a sea lion.[2] Vitt also participated in the 1972–1973 Auckland Islands Expedition where he studied mosses on the Auckland Islands.[5]
With Richard Edward Andrus he issued the exsiccataSphagnotheca Boreali-Americana (1975–?1988).[6] In addition, Vitt edited the series Orthotrichaceae Boreali-Americanae exsiccatae (1980–1992).[7]
Dr. Vitt's interests include ecosystem dynamics, biogeochemistry and paleoecology of peatlands, particularly as related to climatic changes. He also has a continuing interest in all aspects of research related to biosystematics and taxonomy (emphasizing bryophytes), including ecological and systematic studies of mosses in tropical, temperate and arctic areas.[4]
A recognised authority on peatlands, he provided the subject section in the 2008 Encyclopedia of Ecology (edited by S.E. Jorgensen and B. Fath). He has published four books and more than 200 papers over the course of his career, as well as chapters and other articles. He was editor-in-chief of The Bryologist for over ten years from 1994 and has served in editorial positions and on the editorial boards of several other publications.[3]
On September 4, 1966 in Madison, Missouri, he married Sandra Faye Mouser. She served as his office/lab manager and assisted him in organizational and editorial work. They have two sons.[2]
Vitt, Dale H.; Chee, Wai-Lin (1990). "The relationships of vegetation to surface water chemistry and peat chemistry in fens of Alberta, Canada". Vegetatio. 89 (2): 87–106. doi:10.1007/BF00032163. S2CID25071105.
Rochefort, Line; Vitt, Dale H.; Bayley, Suzanne E. (1990). "Growth, Production, and Decomposition Dynamics of Sphagnum under Natural and Experimentally Acidified Conditions". Ecology. 71 (5): 1986–2000. doi:10.2307/1937607. JSTOR1937607.
Vitt, Dale H.; Chee, Wai-Lin (1990). "The relationships of vegetation to surface water chemistry and peat chemistry in fens of Alberta, Canada". Vegetatio. 89 (2): 87–106. doi:10.1007/BF00032163. S2CID25071105.
Halsey, Linda A.; Vitt, Dale H.; Zoltai, Stephen C. (1995). "Disequilibrium response of permafrost in boreal continental western Canada to climate change". Climatic Change. 30 (1): 57–73. Bibcode:1995ClCh...30...57H. doi:10.1007/BF01093225. S2CID154162870.
Vitt, Dale H.; Bayley, Suzanne E.; Jin, Tai-Long (1995). "Seasonal variation in water chemistry over a bog-rich fen gradient in Continental Western Canada". Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. 52 (3): 587–606. doi:10.1139/f95-059.
Vitt, Dale H.; Halsey, Linda A.; Bauer, Ilka E.; Campbell, Celina (2000). "Spatial and temporal trends in carbon storage of peatlands of continental western Canada through the Holocene". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 37 (5): 683–693. doi:10.1139/e99-097.
Turetsky, Merritt R.; Wieder, R. Kelman; Vitt, Dale H. (2002). "Boreal peatland C fluxes under varying permafrost regimes". Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 34 (7): 907–912. doi:10.1016/S0038-0717(02)00022-6.
Turetsky, M. R.; Wieder, R. K.; Vitt, D. H.; Evans, R. J.; Scott, K. D. (2007). "The disappearance of relict permafrost in boreal north America: Effects on peatland carbon storage and fluxes". Global Change Biology. 13 (9): 1922–1934. Bibcode:2007GCBio..13.1922T. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2007.01381.x. S2CID84206753.
Iwatsuki, Zennoske; Vitt, Dale H.; Gradstein, S. Robbert (1976). Bryological herbaria: a guide to the bryological herbaria of the world. Bryophytorum Bibliotecha. Vol. 8. Vaduz: Published for the International Association of Bryologists [by] J. Cramer.
Vitt, D. H.; Gradstein, S. R.; Iwatsuki, Z. (1985). Compendium of bryology: a world listing of herbaria, collectors, bryologists, and current research. Bryophytorum bibliotheca. Vol. 30. Braunschweig: Published for the International Association of Bryologists [by] J. Cramer. ISBN3768214346; vii+355 pages{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
Vitt, Dale H.; Marsh, Janet E.; Bovey, Robin B. (1988). Mosses, lichens & ferns of northwest North America. Edmonton, Alta.: Lone Pine ; Seattle, Wash. : Univ. of Washington Press. ISBN0295966661; 296 pages; illustrations (some color). Field guide includes detailed descriptions of 370 species, each illustrated in colour. Covers geographic area from Alaska to southern Oregon, and from the Pacific Ocean to Montana and Saskatchewan{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
Johnson, Derek; Goward, Trevor; Vitt, Dale H. (1995). Plants of the western boreal forest & aspen parkland. Edmonton, Alta./Redmond, Wash.: Lone Pine. ISBN1551050587; 392 pages: illustrations (some color){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
Buck, William R.; Vitt, Dale Hadley; Malcolm, William McLagan (2002). Key to the genera of Australian mosses. Flora of Australia Supplementary Series, No. 14. Canberra: Australian Biological Resources Study.
