Dog walking is a highly popular leisure activity in cities around the globe. It is also a controversial issue for urban conservation and green space management due to presumed ecological impacts of dogs. Yet regulations allowing or prohibiting the presence of dogs in areas of conservation concern are rarely based on demonstrated effects of dogs on urban nature. To unravel the relationships between the presence of dogs at a site and soil features and plant and animal diversity, we selected dry grassland as our study system since this type of ecosystem is of conservation concern in many cities and is frequently used for dog walking. We combined data on the number and movement patterns of dogs and their owners in 52 dry grassland patches in Berlin, Germany, to create a novel index of dog presence and activity. We then analysed the relationship between the index and soil features, species richness of plants and seven invertebrate taxa, and abundances of sand lizards, a species of particular conservation interest. Generalised linear models revealed significant relationships between the dog index and one soil parameter and some biodiversity measures. The dog index was positively related to phosphorus and non-native plant richness but negatively to spider diversity. While dogs may facilitate biological invasions, likely through a combination of eutrophication and disturbance, overall relationships with general species richness or richness of endangered plant or animal species were weak. These results indicate opportunities for reconciling urban nature conservation with moderate dog walking in urban grassland areas. Still, urban policies should consider remaining dog-related risks in other ecosystem types - a promising direction for further urban research.

遛狗是全球各大城市非常流行的休闲活动。由于狗的假定生态影响，这也是城市保护和绿地管理的一个有争议的问题。然而，允许或禁止在受保护地区养狗的法规很少基于狗对城市自然的显着影响。为了阐明某个地点的狗的存在与土壤特征以及动植物多样性之间的关系，我们选择了干草原作为我们的研究系统，因为这种类型的生态系统在许多城市都受到保护，并且经常用于遛狗。我们结合了德国柏林 52 个干燥草原斑块中狗及其主人的数量和运动模式的数据，创建了一个新的狗存在和活动指数。然后，我们分析了该指数与土壤特征、植物和七种无脊椎动物类群的物种丰富度以及沙蜥蜴（一种具有特殊保护意义的物种）的丰度之间的关系。广义线性模型揭示了狗指数与一种土壤参数和一些生物多样性措施之间的显着关系。狗指数与磷和非本地植物丰富度呈正相关，但与蜘蛛多样性呈负相关。虽然狗可能通过富营养化和干扰的组合促进生物入侵，但与一般物种丰富度或濒危植物或动物物种丰富度的整体关系很弱。这些结果表明在城市草原地区协调城市自然保护与适度遛狗的机会。仍然，