Why is adaptation important for survival?

Adaptation can be on an individual or a species level.

The chimney swift used to live in large hallow trees. As the environment changed there were few or no large trees. The swift adapted by nesting in chimneys. The birds that did not adapt their behavior to the changes conditions died because they could not find nesting places.

The chimney swift is facing new pressures as with central heat there are fewer chimneys and some of these chimneys have grates that block the access to the chimneys.

An example of a species adaptation is the arctic fox. The arctic fox has adapted to snow covered environment by selectively becoming white. The gray fox of the tagai forest had genes for both white and brown fur. The foxes with white fur were adapted to the conditions north of the tree line. Foxes with the gene for brown fur thrived in the more southern forests but have become extinct in the arctic region.

The human genome is estimated to have 20,000 to 30,000 genes.
People with one set of genes by be better adapted to one environment and so survive . Africa was once called the graveyard of the white man. Europeans were not well adapted to the tropical African environment.