Maintenance of genetic variance in secondary sexual traits, including bizarre ornaments and elaborated courtship displays, is a central problem of sexual selection theory. Despite theoretical arguments predicting that strong sexual selection leads to a depletion of additive genetic variance, traits associated with mating success show relatively high heritability. Here we argue that because of trade-offs associated with the production of costly epigamic traits, sexual selection is likely to lead to an increase, rather than a depletion, of genetic variance in those traits. Such trade-offs can also be expected to contribute to the maintenance of genetic variation in ecologically relevant traits with important implications for evolutionary processes, e.g. adaptation to novel environments or ecological speciation. However, if trade-offs are an important source of genetic variation in sexual traits, the magnitude of genetic variation may have little relevance for the possible genetic benefits of mate choice.

中文翻译：

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表观性状遗传变异的悖论：超越“好基因”的性选择观点。

第二性征遗传变异的维持，包括奇异的装饰品和精心设计的求爱表现，是性选择理论的核心问题。尽管理论论证预测强烈的性选择会导致加性遗传变异的耗尽，但与交配成功相关的性状显示出相对较高的遗传力。在这里，我们认为，由于与昂贵的表观性状的产生相关的权衡，性选择可能会导致这些性状的遗传变异增加而不是减少。这种权衡也有望有助于维持生态相关性状的遗传变异，对进化过程具有重要影响，例如适应新环境或生态物种形成。然而，如果权衡是性特征遗传变异的一个重要来源，那么遗传变异的大小可能与择偶可能带来的遗传益处关系不大。