In order to improve the understanding of the role of a canopy opening/gap on the physical environments in a secondary forest in Northeastern China, a case study was conducted in and around a small irregular gap in a montane secondary forest. The secondary forest, which was severely disturbed by human beings about 50 years ago, was dominated by Quercus mongolica and Fraxinus rhynchophyllaan. Temporal variation in photosynthetic photon flux density （PPFD）, air temperature （TA） at 10 cm above the ground, soil temperature （Ts） and soil water content （SWC） at top-layer （0-15 cm） and sub-layer （15-30 cm） were measured from May to September after the second year since the formation of the small gap （the ratios of gap diameter to stand height were less than 0.5） in 2006 respectively. Results indicated that the highest value of PPFD occurred at the northern edge of the gap, particularly at the beginning of the growing season in May. On sunny days, the highest value of PPFD appeared earlier than that on overcast days. Maximum and mean values of TAwere higher in the northern part of the gap, and the minimum values of TAwere at the southern edge of the gap. Soil temperature varied obviously in the gap with the range from 1 to 8 ℃. Maximum values of Ts occurred at the northern part of the gap, which was significantly correlated with the maximum values of TA （R = 0.735, P〈0.05）. SWC was higher in the top-layer （0-15 cm） than that in sub-layer （15-30 cm）, but the difference of them was not significant （p〉0.05）, which might be attributed to the small gap size and the effects of aboveground vegetations. From these results, the maximum of PPFD in the study area occurred at the northern part of the gap, which was consistent with the results observed in north hemisphere, but the occurrence time varied with the differences of the latitudes. The highest values of air and soil temperatures also occurred in the northern part of the gap because they were affected by the radiation. However
