Abstract:During the soil thawing period in spring, large amount of N2O was emitted from the forest soils in North China, being a major source of atmospheric greenhouse gases. However, the contribution of the emitted N2O and its responses t o climatic change are unclear. In this paper, sampling plots of Larix gmelinii f orest (including sapling, ground vegetation, and soil A and B horizons) with sim ilar stand conditions in Tahe (52°31′ N), Songling (50°43′ N), Sunwu (49°13′ N), and Dailing (47°05′ N) were displaced to the south boundary of L. gmelinii natural distribution area to simulate that the plots were under climate warming, and their N2O fluxes were measured during the soil thawing period in spring 2 007. For the four plots, the N2O fluxes all peaked at the mid- or late stage of soil thawing. The N2O flux of the plots from Dailing, Suwu, Songling, and T ahe during soil thawing period was averagely 665±93, 543±56, 443±53, and 335±37 μg ·m-2·h-1, respectively, and significantly positively correlated to the soil temperature at 5 cm depth and the soil microbial biomass carbon at 0 〖KG-*2〗-〖KG-*7〗1 0 cm depth. No significant relationship was observed between the N2O flux and soil moisture content. The soil N2O emission during soil thawing period differ ed significantly among the plots. Both the mean N2O flux and the cumulative N 2O emission decreased with increasing latitude, mainly due to the differences in soil microbial activities and soil physical properties.