Natural selection is the gradual process that increases the frequency of advantageous inherited traits (allowing it to survive and reproduce) and decreases the frequency of detrimental inherited trait...Natural selection is the gradual process that increases the frequency of advantageous inherited traits (allowing it to survive and reproduce) and decreases the frequency of detrimental inherited traits within a population. Gene flow is the exchange of genes between populations or between species.If the gene pools between two populations are different, the exchange of genes can introduce variation that is advantageous or disadvantageous to one of the populations.