The Source Area of the Yellow River (SAYR) is located in the transition zone of permafrost and seasonally frozen ground on the northeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The changes in alpine ecosystems and interactions of frozen ground and alpine vegetation under a warming climate and degrading permafrost have been of concerns for a long time. Under such a circumstance, what are the characteristic of vegetation in different zones of frozen ground. To investigate the vegetation features in the SAYR, four monitoring sites were established: Chalaping site in the continuous permafrost zone in the southern SAYR; Zalinghu site in the southern bank of the Zhaling (Gyaring) Lake in the patchy permafrost zone in the south-central SAYR; Maduo Xiang (Village) site in discontinuous permafrost zone in the western SAYR, and Elinghu site in the northern bank of the Eling (Ngoring) Lake in zone of seasonally frozen ground in the north-central SAYR. In combination with the surveys on plant ecology and monitoring for the hydrothermal processes around these sites, the variations in different types of frozen ground were analyzed. Preliminary results demonstrated that vegetation coverage and the values of diversity indices were higher in cold (<-1 ℃) permafrost regions: Chalaping>Maduo Xiang (Village)>Elinghu, whereas the southern bank of the Zaling (Gyaring) lake in patchy permafrost zone had the lowest vegetation coverage and its values of diversity indices were between Chalaping and Maduo Xiang, manifesting a serious plant degradation. As for the evenness indices, the Zhalinghu had the highest value followed by Chalaping. The aboveground biomass investigation declined in the order of Chalaping>Maduo Xiang (Village)>Zalinghu>Elinghu, and some species appeared in the northern bank of the Eling (Ngoring) Lake indicating the vegetation degradation. This study on alpine vegetation in the SAYR provides some basic features for understanding the ecological changes under degrading permafrost conditions. However, more systematic investigations and monitoring need to be carried out to better evaluate the ecological and hydrological impacts of climate change and permafrost degradation.