backward: these traits are a disadvantage to host organism.
forward: they are an advantage, and thus survive.
Are they aligned with natural selection processes in the environment.
evolution doesn't care about organisms or species, only genes.
I'm not sure why you're anthropomorphising evolution. It's a process, not even a thing. It's a consequence of interacting environmental conditions, and it doesn't "care" at all in any sense of the word. No more than point-charges "care" about electromagnetism.