Introductory note to Neogene paleoenvironments in the Mediterranean realm

Four papers of the present issue (Antonarakou et al., Kostopoulos et al., Merceron et al. and Zidianakis et al.) as well as two others (Deng and Spassov et al., already published in Geodiversitas 28 (3) 2006) were all presented during the "5th International Symposium on Eastern Mediterranean Geology" which was held in Thessaloniki in 2004. All these papers deal with the Neogene terrestrial and marine paleoenvironments of the Mediterranean realm. The material concerned by these studies differs from one to the other (plants, forams, mammals), but the aim is similar: how to characterize the environments of an area considering the interval of time in which diverse fossil groups are sampled? Plants, invertebrates or vertebrates are all concerned by the environment, and its climates, to develop best adaptations and to have the best chance to survive. The faunal and floral fossil associations are good proxies to reveal the message of the past. This is what each of these papers develops, using different taxa and methodologies.