Forest ecosystem is the largest organic carbon pool in terrestrial ecosystem, and its slight changes may cause significant variations in global climate. Soil respiration is the key ecological process of carbon cycle in forest ecosystem, which has a great influence on global climate change. Soil animals, as the important consumers of material cycle in the ecosystem, can regulate soil respiration the help of their own metabolism and affecting microbial activities. Therefore, study of the correlation of soil animals and soil respiration is of great significance to further reveal the law and mechanism of carbon cycle in ecosystem. Based on field experiment and indoor analysis, we chose soil respiration and soil animals in three forest ecosystems of Korean pine plantation forest (HS), Mongolian oak forest (MGL), and Hard-wood forest (YK) in Maoershan as the research object, and discuss the temporal variation and correlation between soil respiration as well as individual density or biomass of soil animals in different forest ecosystems. The results showed that: (1) the total soil respiration rate of the three forest ecosystems increased at first and then decreased (P<0.05), with the lowest value appearing in October. The soil heterotrophic respiration rate also showed significantly temporal dynamic change (P<0.05). The difference of soil heterotrophic respiration rate among different forest ecosystems was significant (P<0.05), which was the highest in Hard-wood forest and the lowest in Korean pine plantation forest. (2) The soil animal biomass and individual density of the three forest ecosystems also had notable temporal dynamic changes (P<0.05). The change trends of soil animal biomass and individual density were different, but they all had the maximum values in September. The individual density of soil animals in Mongolian oak forest was much lower than that in Korean pine plantation forest and Hard-wood forest. (3) Through regression analysis, the increase of the number and biomass of soil animals inhibited the soil respiration rate, especially at the beginning and end of the growing season. And the correlation between soil respiration and soil animals in Korean pine plantation forest was different from that in Mongolian oak forest and Hard-wood forest. It could be concluded that soil animals could produce negative feedback on total soil respiration and heterotrophic respiration by inhibiting microbial life activities and reducing root respiration. Soil animals, soil microorganisms and plant roots are an inseparable whole, which together with soil temperature, water and other environmental factors regulate soil respiration.