The temperature sensitivity of soil respiration (Q10) is a key parameter for estimating the feedback of soil respirationto global warming. The Q10 of total soil respiration (Rt) has been reported to have high variability at both local andglobal scales, and vegetation type is one of the most important drivers. However, little is known about how vegetationtypes affect the Q10 of soil heterotrophic (Rh) and autotrophic (Ra) respirations, despite their contrasting roles in soilcarbon sequestration and ecosystem carbon cycles. In the present study, fifive typical plantation forests and a naturallydeveloped shrub and herb land in subtropical China were selected for investigation of soil respiration. Trenching wasconducted to separate Rh and Ra in each vegetation type. The results showed that both Rt and Rh were signifificantlycorrelated with soil temperature in all vegetation types, whereas Ra was signifificantly correlated with soil temperaturein only four vegetation types. Moreover, on average, soil temperature explained only 15.0% of the variation in Ra in thesix vegetation types. These results indicate that soil temperature may be not a primary factor affecting Ra. Therefore,modeling of Ra based on its temperature sensitivity may not always be valid. The Q10 of Rh was signifificantly affected byvegetation types, which indicates that the response of the soil carbon pool to climate warming may vary withvegetation type. In contrast, differences in neither the Q10 of Rt nor that of Ra among these vegetation types weresignifificant. Additionally, variation in the Q10 of Rt among vegetation types was negatively related to fifine root biomass, whereas the Q10 of Rh was mostly related to total soil nitrogen. However, the Q10 of Ra was not correlated with any ofthe environmental variables monitored in this study. These results emphasize the importance of independentlystudying the temperature sensitivity of Rt and its heterotrophic and autotrophic components.