Natural selection is the concept that individuals in a population that are best adapted to their environment are most likely to survive and succeed to breed and produce offspring. In turn, the offspring will receive their parents genes, and most likely develop the same traits that helped their parents adapt to their environment, allowing them to also be successful and pass on their genes again. This ensures that all only the well adapted traits in a population persist.The phrase 'survival of the fittest' is related to natural selection, with 'fitness' in this context meaning the ability to produce lots of offspring in which to pass on your genes.