Traditional pastoralism based on free-ranging goats is indispensable for the rural economy of millions of people in the Brazilian Caatinga drylands. The use of landscape as rangelands for domestic herbivores benefits humans, but understanding its impacts on vegetation is crucial to sustainable strategies. Here we assessed how free-ranging domestic goats use mixed working landscapes in the largest dry forest of the Americas. We evaluated habitat use via GPS tracking and analysis of feeding preferences. Goats preferentially used open areas near human settlements and their impact on plant community may be negligible because they feed mostly on plants widely available in modified environments. Although free-ranging, the area of use was nearly constant (95.44 ha), but the size of herds varied (2–100 animals). Our study suggests that domestic goats can be considered dwellers of human-modified landscapes, foraging close to villages, on open (i.e., degraded) areas where abundant plant species thrive. Therefore, the extensive goat pastoralism in the Caatinga may have little impact on natural vegetation and could be sustainably managed under traditional management practices.

基于放牧山羊的传统放牧对于巴西卡廷加干旱地区的数百万人的农村经济是必不可少的。将景观用作家畜食草动物的牧场对人类有益，但了解其对植被的影响对于可持续战略至关重要。在这里，我们评估了自由放养的家养山羊如何在美洲最大的干旱森林中使用混合工作景观。我们通过GPS跟踪和进食偏好分析评估了栖息地的使用情况。山羊优先使用人类居住区附近的开阔地带，并且它们对植物群落的影响可以忽略不计，因为它们主要以改良环境中广泛存在的植物为食。虽然放牧，使用面积几乎恒定（95.44公顷），但畜群大小却有所不同（2-100只动物）。我们的研究表明，家养山羊可被视为人类改良景观的栖息地，它们在开放的（即退化的）地区（植物种类繁多）附近的村庄附近觅食。因此，Caatinga地区广泛的山羊放牧对自然植被影响不大，可以在传统的管理方式下进行可持续管理。