Differently from commonly used forest conservation strategies, the absence of disturbance in non-forest-ecosystems can result in loss of biodiversity. Grassy ecosystems characterize extensive areas in all biomes in Brazil, offering great contribution to biological diversity and providing ecosystem services on which society depends. Palaeoecological evidence indicates these ecosystems evolved under the influence of grazing and fire, and these disturbances have been essential for controlling the dominance of woody vegetation. While the need for fire to maintain grassy biomes has been recently discussed, grazing as a management tool for conservation is still little accepted by the local scientific community and by decision-makers. Here we provide a comprehensive analysis of the current literature on grazing management and its effects on grassy ecosystems in Brazil. Based on a review of the role of grazers prior and after European colonization, and a synthesis on grazing effects across different systems, we call for the evaluation of grazing as a management tool for biodiversity conservation in Brazil’s grassy systems. Grazing should be an interesting management strategy especially in Legal Reserves with grassy vegetation types, as it can ally conservation with livestock production. To achieve these potentially complementary objectives, a research agenda needs to be developed to devise adaptive management strategies for Legal Reserves. In this, relevant stakeholders should be included and both the ecological conditions of the ecosystem in question and the socioeconomic determinants considered.

与常用的森林保护策略不同，非森林生态系统中没有干扰会导致生物多样性的丧失。草地生态系统是巴西所有生物群落广泛区域的特征，为生物多样性做出了巨大贡献，并提供了社会所依赖的生态系统服务。古生态学证据表明，这些生态系统是在放牧和火灾的影响下进化而来的，这些干扰对于控制木本植被的优势至关重要。虽然最近讨论了用火来维持草地生物群落的必要性，但放牧作为保护的管理工具仍然很少被当地科学界和决策者接受。在这里，我们对当前关于放牧管理及其对巴西草地生态系统影响的文献进行了全面分析。基于对欧洲殖民前后放牧者作用的回顾，以及对不同系统放牧影响的综合，我们呼吁将放牧作为巴西草地系统生物多样性保护的管理工具进行评估。放牧应该是一种有趣的管理策略，尤其是在具有草地植被类型的合法保护区，因为它可以将保护与畜牧生产结合起来。为了实现这些潜在的互补目标，需要制定研究议程，为法定保护区设计适应性管理策略。在这方面，