Forest soils are a major source of N₂O emissions from terrestrial ecosystems. However, the magnitude and contribution of N₂O production from different pathways in Australian forest soils remain uncertain. We conducted a ¹⁵N tracing laboratory incubation experiment on 13 forest soils sampled from subtropical, temperate and arid regions across Australia and found that forest soils in temperate areas had the highest N₂O emission rate (19.5 µg N kg⁻¹ soil d^-1), followed by subtropical and arid soils (3.84 and 3.80 µg N kg⁻¹ soil d^-1, respectively). N₂O production in Australian forest soils was mainly derived from the organic nitrogen (N) pool; its contribution followed the order of arid (78%) > subtropical (69%) > temperate (59%). N₂O emission potentially from heterotrophic nitrification was negatively correlated with latitude (p < 0.05) and the contribution of soil organic N to N₂O production was negatively correlated with soil total N and total carbon (C) content (p < 0.01). Our study improves the understanding of N₂O production pathways from warm arid to cool temperate regions in Australian forest soils.

森林土壤是陆地生态系统 N ₂ O 排放的主要来源。然而，澳大利亚森林土壤中不同途径产生的 N _{2 O 的量级和贡献仍不确定。}我们对澳大利亚亚热带、温带和干旱地区的 13 种森林土壤进行了^{15 N 示踪实验室孵化实验，发现温带地区的森林土壤的 N} ₂ O 排放率最高（19.5 µg N kg ^-1土壤 d ^-1 )，其次是亚热带和干旱土壤（分别为 3.84 和 3.80 µg N kg ^-1土壤 d ^-1）。氮₂澳大利亚森林土壤中的 O 产量主要来自有机氮（N）库；其贡献顺序为干旱（78%）>亚热带（69%）>温带（59%）。异养硝化可能产生的N ₂ O 排放与纬度呈负相关（p < 0.05），土壤有机N 对N ₂ O 产量的贡献与土壤全N 和总碳（C）含量呈负相关（p < 0.01）。我们的研究提高了对澳大利亚森林土壤中从温暖干旱地区到凉爽温带地区N _{2 O 生产途径的理解。}