# Dennis Chitty

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Dennis_Chitty
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Dennis_Chitty.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Chitty
> Source revision: 1306926280
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|Canadian zoologist (1912–2010)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Dennis Hubert Chitty
| image             = 
| image_size        = 
| alt               = 
| caption           = 
| birth_date = {{birth date|1912|09|18}} 
| birth_place = [Bristol](/source/Bristol), [England](/source/England)
| death_date =  {{death date and age|2010|2|3|1912|09|18}}
| death_place = [Vancouver](/source/Vancouver), [British Columbia](/source/British_Columbia)
| death_cause =
| residence         =
| citizenship       =
| nationality       = 
| field             = {{ublist|[Vertebrate zoology](/source/Vertebrate_zoology)|[Ecology](/source/Ecology)}}
| alma_mater        = {{ublist|[University of Toronto](/source/University_of_Toronto)|[University of Oxford](/source/University_of_Oxford)}}
| doctoral_advisor = [Charles Sutherland Elton](/source/Charles_Sutherland_Elton)
| academic_advisors =
| workplaces  = {{ublist|[University of Oxford](/source/University_of_Oxford)|[University of British Columbia](/source/University_of_British_Columbia)}}
| doctoral_students = [Charles Krebs](/source/Charles_Krebs)
| notable_students =
| thesis_title = Factors controlling the density of wild populations, with special reference to fluctuations in the vole (''Microtus'') and the snowshoe rabbit (''Lepus americanus'')
| thesis_url  = http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/OXVU1:LSCOP_OX:oxfaleph013214545
| thesis_year = 1949
| website     = 
| known_for   = Chitty Hypothesis of Population Regulation
| spouse      =
| children    =
| influenced  =
}}

'''Dennis Hubert Chitty''' {{post-nominals|country=CAN|FRSC}} (18 September 1912 – 3 February 2010), was a professor of zoology at the [University of British Columbia](/source/University_of_British_Columbia). In 1969, he was elected a Fellow of the [Royal Society of Canada](/source/Royal_Society_of_Canada).<ref>[https://rsc-src.ca/civicrm/file?reset=1&id=157&eid=730 Obituary]</ref>

The '''Chitty Hypothesis of Population Regulation''' states that [population density](/source/population_density) is limited by spacing behaviour, which has genetic underpinnings and rapidly responds to natural selection.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Krebs|first1=Charles J.|title=A review of the Chitty Hypothesis of population regulation|journal=Canadian Journal of Zoology|date=1978|volume=56|issue=12|pages=2463–2480|doi=10.1139/z78-335 |bibcode=1978CaJZ...56.2463K }}</ref> Because of the controversial nature of this idea at the time, [David Lack](/source/David_Lack) attempted to veto Chitty's dissertation, though it was eventually accepted because of the intervention of [Peter Medawar](/source/Peter_Medawar).<ref>[https://www.zoology.ubc.ca/~krebs/ecological_rants/?p=1261 Was the Chitty Hypothesis of Population Regulation a ‘Big Idea’ in Ecology and was it successful?]</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chitty, Dennis}}
Category:1912 births
Category:2010 deaths
Category:Canadian zoologists
Category:Canadian ecologists
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada
Category:Academic staff of the University of British Columbia
Category:University of Toronto alumni
Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford
Category:British emigrants to Canada

{{Canada-scientist-stub}}

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Dennis Chitty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Chitty) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Chitty?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.