Abstract: Determination of soil respiration plays a key role in the assessment of carbon budgets in different ecosystems. Soil respiration rates under four different grazing intensities (no grazing, light grazing, moderate grazing and heavy grazing) were measured in desert steppe, typical steppe and meadow steppe in Inner Mongolia using a Li-8100 open circuit soil C Flux measuring system. Regression analyses were done between soil respiration and soil temperature (at 10 cm depth of soil), as well as soil respiration and air relative humidity. The grassland type, grazing intensity and their interaction had significant effects on soil respiration. The effect of grazing intensity on soil respiration was significant in desert steppe and typical steppe, but not significant in meadow steppe. In different grasslands, as grazing intensity increased, the soil respiration initially increased but then decreased. Variance analysis showed that there were significant differences in soil temperature at 10 cm depth of soil and in air relative humidity among different grassland types, but no differences were found between different grazing intensities.