Choix de l'habitat par le lynx européen et par sa proie principale, le chevreuil, dans un milieu de moyenne montagne (massif vosgien). 1. le cas du chevreuil

Since 1983, 12 lynxes were reintroduced in the forests of Eastern France (massif des Vosges). They use their habitat in a patchy way. In this part, the authors deal with the ecological distridution of their main prey, the roe deer. It is to see to what extent the prey distribution can influence the predator habits. Roe deer observations were made during 4 consecutive springs and 3 consecutive summers and related with the environmental characteristics of the forest plots: physiographical factors, vegetation type, vegetation structure, relative cover of vegetation layer... Eight discriminant analysis were performed. They suggest that in our study area, the roe deer spatial distribution is mainly influenced by the altitude and the non deciduous tree cover. Other factors of less importance are the global tree cover and the understory (scrub layer). Moreover it seems that the presence of the red deer can also influence the roe deer habitat utilization.