Abstract: By using CFX-2 Soil Respiration Chamber, the soil respiration characteristics of four typical urban lawns ( Cynodon dactylon × C. transadlensis , mixture lawn with  Lolium perenne  and C. dactylon × C. transadlensis, Zoysia japonica , and  C. dactylon ) in Shanghai were studied. An obvious seasonal change was observed in the soil respiration rate, with the maximum in July-August and the minimum in December-next January. The average soil respiration rate of the lawns was in the order of  C. dactylon×C. transadlensis <mixture lawn with  L. perenne  and  C. dactylon<Z. japonica<L. perenne , being 0.13-2.25, 1.16-5.95, 0.93-8.27, and 1.21-9.27  μmol·m^-2·s^-1, respectively. The soil respiration rate had a significant exponential correlation with air temperature and with the soil temperature at depths 5 cm and 10 cm. The diurnal patterns of the soil respiration rate of  C. dactylon×C. transa dlensis and of mixture lawn with  L. perenne and  C. dactylon×C. transa dlensis could be expressed as one-humped curve, and the variation trends were similar to those of air temperature and the soil temperature at depths 5 cm and 10 cm. The sensitivity of the four lawns soil respiration to temperature (Q₁₀value) was from 1.60 to 2.66. For the lawns except Z. japonica, no significant relationship was found between soil respiration rate and soil moisture content. The soil respiration characteristics of the lawns had a close relationship to the growth habit of grass. TheQ₁₀ value of the mixture lawn with cold-warm-season turf grass was relatively smaller, which would be beneficial to the improvement of urban ecological landscape and environmental quality.

Key words: Alatai region, Grassland type, Ecological service value, Grassland function, Classified management