Total soil respiration is the sum of all carbon dioxide effluxes originating from litter, soil organic matter and roots, controlled by soil biological activity and environmental drivers such as soil temperature, air temperature, water content and photosynthetically active radiation. Aboveground litter is a key factor controlling soil carbon sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems as well as a very important part of the soil respiration. Because autotrophic and heterotrophic activity belowground is controlled by substrate availability, soil respiration is strongly linked to litterfall. For example, the amount of litter and its decomposition rate greatly affect the formation of soil organic matter and the supply of plant nutrients. Additionally, aboveground litter can directly and/or indirectly affect soil respiration via influencing other factors (e.g., soil water, soil temperature and microorganism). Dragon spruce plantations are mainly distributed in the subalpine and alpine forests of western Sichuan. In general, there is large amount of litter pool under the dragon spruce plantation. Therefore, the aboveground litter could have considerable contribution to total soil respiration in the plantation. Our objective of this study was to determine the contribution of aboveground litter to total CO₂ efflux in a subalpine dragon spruce plantation of western Sichuan. In order to evaluate the contribution of aboveground litter to total soil respiration, litter removal experiment was conducted in a subalpine dragon spruce plantation of western Sichuan. Litter treatments consisted of no litter (NL, aboveground litter excluded in plots) and control (CK, normal litter inputs allowed). There were three plots in each treatment, and the plot size was 20 m×20 m. Five polyvinyl chloride (PVC) collars were settled along the diagonal in each plot. Soil respiration rates in each treatment were measured every month over one year using the Li-8100 automatic instrument (Li-Cor, Inc, NE, USA). Soil temperature and moisture at the depth of 5 cm at five locations close to the outer edge of each PVC collar were also recorded by the temperature probe and moisture sensor with Li-8100 automatic instrument (Li-Cor, Inc, NE, USA) at the same time, respectively. In addition, we set button-type temperature sensor (DS1921-F5 #, Maxim / Dallas Semiconductor Inc., USA) in three plots. Soil temperature at the 5 cm depth in each plot was continuously monitored. The soil respiration rates in both litter removal and control plots had obvious seasonality, exhibiting a similar dynamic pattern. The soil respiration rate ranged from 0.35 to 4.39 μmol m^-2 s^-1 in litter removal treatment and the rate ranged from 0.40 to 5.15 μmol m^-2 s^-1 in control plot. No significant differences in soil temperature, soil moisture and soil respiration rate were observed between the two treatments during the experimental period. Compared with the control, soil respiration rate and soil moisture were decreased by 14.21% and 4.95%, respectively, in litter removal treatment. Regardless of the treatments, soil respiration rate had a significant exponential correlation with soil temperature and was linearly correlated with soil moisture. The temperature sensitivity (Q₁₀) of soil respiration was 3.84 and 4.09, respectively, in litter exclusion and control plots. The contribution of aboveground litter to soil respiration rate was 14.93%. In conclusion, aboveground litter respiration is an important component of soil respiration in the subalpine coniferous forests of western Sichuan.