Acta Theriologica 40 (1): 37-43,1995. PL ISSN 0001-7051 Socioeconomic, physiognomic, and climatic factors determining the distribution pattern of roe deer Capreolus capreolus in Spain Santiago ARAGON, Francisco BRAZA and Cristina SAN JOSE Aragon S., Braza F. and San Jose C. 1995. Socioeconomic, physiognomic, and climatic factors determining the distribution pattern of roe deer Capreolus capreolus in Spain. Acta Theriologica 40: 37-43. In Spain, the highest density of roe deer Capreolus capreolus (Linnaeus, 1758) is found in the northern mountains, whereas towards the south, populations are frag mented into isolated nucleii. In order to analyse the distribution patterns of this species in Spain and its variation during the last five years, a multivariate analysis of the influences of several socioeconomic, physiognomic and climatic factors was performed. This species prefers to inhabit damper and colder areas. Its distribution also reflects changes in human population; roe deer are associated with areas of zero growth or an actual decline in population density. An active management is essential to the conservation of the southern populations due to their geographic isolation and the low populational density of each nucleus. Estacion Biologica de Donana, C.S.I.C., Avd. Maria Luisa s/n, 41013 Sevilla, Spain Key words: Capreolus capreolus, Spain, distribution pattern Introduction Little data exists on the distribution of Cervidae in Spain (Cabrera 1914, Niethammer 1963, Whitehead 1972); the most recently published information is by Braza et al. (1989). These authors emphasize the existence of two distinct nucleii of roe deer populations: those living in the Eurosiberian region, reaching a high density and spreading, and those from the Mediterranean region, more vulnerable because of their isolation and low density. For this reason the density values are very variable, ranging between 18 individuals/100 ha in the Cantabrian Mountains and 2 individuals/100 ha in several areas of the Southern Sierras (Delibes et al. 1991, Saenz de Buruaga et al. 1991, Saez-Royuela and Telleria 1991). In this study, we have analysed the distribution pattern of roe deer in Spain and its variation during the last five years. We evaluated the socioeconomic, physiognomic and climatic factors affecting it. [37]