Livestock is the main source of food and income, as well as a key socio-cultural asset for pastoralist households in arid and marginalized environments. Pastoral households in the drylands of Northern Patagonia in Argentina have faced repeated droughts over the past two decades and a large volcanic ashfall in 2011 that halved their livestock herds. While most households were severely affected by these events, some were able to withstand or recover over time while others suffered prolonged stress or even out-migrated. Through in-depth interviews with 33 pastoral households in Pilcaniyeu (Rio Negro Province), we investigated the factors that shaped their functional responses and adaptive strategies in the face of these shocks, under the lenses of ethnobiology and systemic resilience theories. We assessed livelihood decisions, social interactions and changes in household assets before the ashfall (2011), during the six months following it, and eight years later (2019), and identified four structural and four functional responses archetypes (Anticipatory, Reactive, Conservative and Passive) and their adaptation strategies (Tolerance, Resistance, Avoidance, Diversification and Transformation). Household structural characteristics were less instrumental at determining the adaptive responses observed in the community than their ethnobiological and bio cultural characteristics. Household responses were enabled by assets, local knowledge and social capital, mediated by individual motivation, collective agency and culturally situated values. Our findings further highlight that in such marginalized environments access to telecommunication or road connectivity are critical at enabling a range of functional responses and adaptive strategies, especially when they rely on collective action. Policies to support resilience of pastoral livelihoods should consider the diversity of strategies as identified here, prioritizing aids for households exhibiting passive responses while enhancing the adaptive potential of those already able to mobilize conservative, anticipatory and reactive strategies. Overall, this study contributes a novel, complementary methodology for understanding and categorizing household adaptation from an ethnobiological and bio cultural perspective.