Abstract: This study aimed to understand the changes of soil biotope and soil microbial functional diversity in the Lesser Khingan Mountain primitive Korean Pine forest and subsequent succession by secondary forest. We selected soils of a typical primitive broad-leaved Korean Pine forest and two main secondary forests (Betula platyphylla forest at the pioneer stage and a hardwood forest at the subclimax stage during degradation and succession of the forest vegetation) in Lesser Khingan Mountain as materials. We analyzed changing patterns of microbial functional diversity of the soils in the depths of 0- < 10 cm and 10-20 cm by using the Biolog-ECO microplate method. The results showed that the Average Well Color Development (AWCD) values increased with increasing incubation time; the values in the initial stage of incubation followed a decreasing order:broadleaved Korean Pine > hardwood forest > B.platyphylla. In the terminal stage of incubation, the AWCD values of broadleaved Korean Pine, B. platyphylla, and hardwood forest were 1.06, 0.86 and 0.81, respectively, on 0- < 10 cm soil layers, and 0.68, 0.47 and 0.45 on 10-20 cm soil layers. The higher AWCD value of the soil layers in the primitive forest indicated that the single carbon source metabolic activity of the soil microorganism in the primitive forest was significantly higher than that of the secondary forests. The AWCD values of 0- < 10 cm soil were significantly higher than that in 10-20 cm in the same kind of forest (P < 0.05). Microbial diversity indices (Shannon-Wiener index, Simpson index, McIntosh index and Richness index) of the primitive forest were significantly higher than those of the secondary forests (P < 0.05). The results indicate that soil microbes in the primitive forest microbial had a higher utilization intensity to various carbon sources as compared with those in the secondary forests; the types of dominant carbon source utilized by soil microbial communities varied in different forest types. After degradation and subsequent succession of the primitive forest, soil microbial community during utilization of carbon sources was sensitive to the four carbon sources (e.g., carbohydrates, amino acids, carboxylic acids and Polymer).