By analogy, Darwin referred to the differential survival of the characters that adapt an organism to its environment as natural selection. The Darwinian formulation emphasizes that the precise way in which a character enables an individual to survive or breed better is part of the process. The way in which the character works is not the same as the long-term changes in the frequencies of genes that are required for the expression of the character.

DEFINE: Distinguishes Darwin's functional conception of natural selection from the population-genetic view of evolutionary change.

Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking…, loc. 273