Fig. 1

Illustration of the space \(\mathcal{E}\) of environments. Each environment \(\varvec{\mathrm{e}}=\left(\varvec{\mathrm{d}},\varvec{\mathrm{v}}\right)\) contains a subvector \(\varvec{\mathrm{d}}\in \mathcal{D}\) that quantifies the extents to which the owner wants his animal to satisfy certain potential desires. The suitability of a breed to satisfy a certain desire depends on the subvector \(\varvec{\mathrm{v}}\in \mathcal{V}\) of influencing variables. Each desire that an owner could associate with owning an animal can have implications for the optimum phenotype and the phenotypic diversity of the species. Thus, it can lead to adaptive or non-adaptive radiation. The figure illustrates what the influencing factors are