Soil and trunk respiration are the major sources of carbon from forest ecosystems to the atmosphere and they account for a large fraction of total ecosystem respiration. The amount of photosynthate allocated to respiration affects the growth of the tree and the potential for carbon sequestration of forest ecosystems. This study, aiming at understanding patterns of carbon allocation to respiration among species and seasons, consisted in pure 13CO2 labelling of the entire crown of three different tree species (beech, oak and pine) at distinct phenological stages between Sept 2008 and Feb 2010. 13C was then tracked for several weeks in soil and trunk CO2 efflux at high temporal resolution using tuneable diode laser absorption spectrometry (Plain et al. 2009). Recovery of 13C in trunk and soil CO2 efflux was observed a few couple of hours after the beginning of the labelling in oak and beech. There is a rapid transfer of 13C belowground with a maximum occurring within 2 to 4 days after labelling. Label was recovered at the same time in the respiration and in the biomass of both fine roots and microbes. Maximum recovery occurred earlier in beech and oak, while it happened later in Pine. Indeed, the velocity of phloem transport, calculated as the difference of time lags in 13C recovery in trunk respiration at different height, was around 0.10-0.2m/h in pine and around 0.2-1.2 m/h in oak and beech, reflecting difference in phloem anatomy between angiosperm and gymnosperm. The cumulated amount of label recovered in soil CO2 efflux 20 days after labelling varied among the seasons in all species, from 1 to 16% in beech, 2 to 11% in oak and 1 to 11% in pine. For all species, allocation to soil respiration was greater in early summer compared to spring, late summer and autumn. A compartmental analysis is further conducted to characterise functional pools of labelled substrates and storage compounds that contribute to both trunk and soil respiration. [Plain C, Gérant D, Maillard P, Dannoura M, Dong Y, Zeller B, Priault P, Parent F, Epron D. 2009. Tracing of recently assimilated carbon in respiration at high temporal resolution in the field with a tuneable diode laser absorption spectrometer after in situ 13CO2 pulse labelling of 20-year-old beech trees.