Seasonal metrics and environmental responses to forestry soil surface CO₂ emission effluxes among three types of lower subtropical forests were consistently monitored over two years with static chamber-gas chromatograph techniques among three types of lower subtropical forests. Results showed that annual CO₂ effluxes (S+L) reached 3942.20, 3422.36 and 2163.02 CO₂ g·m^?2·a^?1, respectively in the monsoon evergreen broadleaf forest, mixed broadleaf-coniferous forest and coniferous forest. All the three types of forests revealed the same characteristics of seasonal changes with the CO₂ effluxes peaking throughout June to August. During this peaking period, the effluxes were 35.9%, 38.1% and 40.2% of the total annual effluxes, respectively. The CO₂ emission process responding to the environmental factors displayed significantly different patterns in forestry soils of the three types of forests. The coniferous forest (CF) was more sensitive to temperature than the other two types. The Q ₁₀ values were higher, along with greater seasonal variations of the CO₂ efflux, indicating that the structurally unique forestry ecosystem has disadvantage against interferences. All the three types of forestry CO₂ effluxes showed significant correlation with the soil temperature (T _s), soil water content (M _s) and air pressure (P _a). However, stepwise regression analysis indicated no significant correlation between air pressure and the soil CO₂ efflux. With an empirical model to measure soil temperature and water content in 5 cm beneath the soil surface, the CO₂ effluxes accounting for 75.7%, 77.8% and 86.5% of the efflux variability respectively in soils of BF, MF and PF were calculated. This model can be better used to evaluate the CO₂ emission of soils under water stress and arid or semi-arid conditions.