Although there are many common climatic characteristics among med-regions, local climate is modified by orography, altitude, orientation from coast line, continent and oceanic influences... (Aschmann, 1973a; Conacher & Conacher, 1998), and therefore several microclimatic patterns can be established (Nahal, 1981; Daget et al., 1988).

Köppen (1923) distinguishes between hot and cold summers, and Emberger (1930, 1955, and 1971) defines 6 types of subclimates according to its humidity and the winter severity:

- subdesertic or periarid,
- xeromediterranean or arid,
- termomediterranean or semiarid,
- mesomediterranean or subhumid,
- submediterranean or humid and
- subxeric or perhumid.

However, from these subclimates Di Castri (1973c) distinguished an “eumediterranean” subclimate which would be equivalent to the semiarid and subhumid subclimates, with a precipitation range of 275640mm/y.

Mediterranean climate is located between the temperate and dry climate areas (see Dallman, 1998), and both regions have influenced strongly the mediterranean climate and its present biota (di Castri, 1981; Herrera, 1995).

http://www.tdx.cat/bitstream/handle/10803/1420/CAPITOL3.pdf....

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Note added at 1 hr (2016-02-26 02:29:29 GMT)
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Main Types of Mediterranean Forest and Rangeland

2. Mediterranean climate, typically dry and hot, is characterized by the low rainfall, which occurs mostly during the winter, and by the almost constant lack of rain during the summer In this region there is a variety of climatic zones, from the arid zone (annual rainfall: 100-300 mm.) to the humid Mediterranean zone (annual rainfall: 800-1000 mm.). According to the classification of various climatic zones adopted by the FAO Mediterranean Forestry Sub-Commission, the region is divided into three more or less clearly distinct zones.

a) Zone with Eumediterranean climate. Under this name, land areas with semi-arid up to sub-humid climates are grouped. Average annual rainfall is 300 to 500 mm., and 500 to 800 mm, respectively. It is very unevenly distributed throughout the year. Coastal, plain and semimountainous areas bordering on the Mediterranean sea are grouped in this zone.
b) Transition to the arid zone of North Africa and the Near East. Average annual rainfall does not exceed 100 to 300 mm. Nomadic grazing is the main characteristic of this zone.
c) Transition zone to the humid-temperate (Southern Europe) mountainous regions. Average annual rainfall is 800 to 1000 mm. It covers large areas of the Iberian (Spain), Italian (Apennines) and Balkan (Dalmatia, Greece) peninsulas.

In the Eumediterranean zone, evergreen schlerophyl vegetation prevails together with the so-called Mediterranean conifers: Pinus hale pensis, Pinus brutia, Cupressus, Pinus pinaster, etc.

Further, in the transition to temperate-humid zone (Southern Europe), forest types are more varied: Oak, chestnut and beech from the deciduous broad-leaves and Abies cephalonica (Greece), Pinus nigra (Greece, Calabria, Corsica, Dalmatia, Spain, Turkey), Pinus maritima (Spain, Southern France), Pinus leucodermis (Greece), Abies nordmanniana (Turkey), Abies numidica, Cedrus, etc. Very limited areas of the so-called Central European conifers (Pinus sylvestris, A bies alba) cover the upper extremes of the mountains on the northern borders of the zone.

In the transition to the arid zone, semi-destroyed forests of Quercus lanuginosa, Quercus infectoria, Pistacea atlantica, and Amygdalus predominate.

4. In most of the Eumediterranean zone, the stages of forest degradation do not include a stage dominated by perennial grasses, as is the case in the humid-temperate climates. Excluding the natural alpine or pseudoalpine perennial pastures, as well as those perennial natural grazing grounds derived from high mountainous forest clearings, the rest of the natural grazing grounds located on the Eumediterranean zone constitute a stage of a retrogression process: forestma quisstony grazing grounds composed of annual grasses and legumesmostly rocky ground.

http://tinyurl.com/gwfagaz

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Note added at 1 hr (2016-02-26 03:03:19 GMT)
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Greek: "eu"

a combining form meaning “good,” “well,” occurring chiefly in words of Greek origin ( eupepsia); in scientific coinages, especially taxonomic names, it often has the sense “true, genuine” ( eukaryote)

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/eu-


If a restrictive approach is adopted, only the semi-arid and subhumid types can be considered as a true mediterranean climate ("eumediterranean"); the arid and humid types represent transitional conditions that can be define as submediterranean climates, and....

Letterlijk: zuiver/echt mediterraan klimaat

http://tinyurl.com/gwhnr4u