Bowling Pin Strategy

Biological Parallel

The Bowling Pin Strategy—dominate one niche, use it to knock down adjacent ones—mirrors adaptive radiation. Anole lizards colonized Caribbean islands sequentially: first one island's canopy, then trunks, then ground, then the next island—each conquered microhabitat providing the body plan adaptations for the next. Army ants first perfected nomadic raiding in one habitat before radiating across tropical Americas. Mycorrhizal fungi colonized one plant's roots, proved the partnership model, then expanded to 90% of plant species. Sequential specialization outcompetes simultaneous diversification because mastery in one domain provides transferable advantages—knock down the first pin before targeting the next.