The characteristic of stereoscopic climate is fairly clear on the eastern slope of Gongga Mountain, distributing from subtropical to frigid zones along the altitude. Accordingly, vegetation types changed from evergreen broad leaved forest to coniferous forest. The aim of this study was to elucidate the characteristics of soil nematode communities under different climate zones on the eastern slope of Gongga Mountain. In September and December 2014, soil samples from 0-5 cm, 5-10 cm and 10-15 cm layers were collected from five types of forest, including subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest (SEB, 1 600 m), subtropical evergreen and deciduous broad-leaved mixed forest (SEDB, 2 000 m), warm temperate deciduous broadleaved forest (WTDB, 2 400 m), mid-temperate coniferous-broadleaved mixed forest (MTC, 2 800 m) and cold temperate coniferous forest (CTC, 3 200 m) along the vertical climate zones on the eastern slope of Gongga Mountain. A total of 193 921 soil nematodes were collected, belonging to 2 classes, 9 orders, 68 families and 172 genera. The mean density was 2 155 ind. 100 g-1 dry soil. All nematode individuals were classified into the four trophic groups of bacterivores, f ungivores, plant-parasites and predators-omnivores, among which the bacterivores were the dominant. The structure of soil nematode community varied among different climate zones as well as seasons. The community structure was mainly affected by the changes in abundances of Chromadorida, Araeolaimida, Rhabditida and Mononchida. Individual density, taxonomic richness, Shannon-Weiner index and Pielou index varied with no significant difference among the vertical climate zones. However, the individual density in December was significantly higher than that in September, while an opposite pattern was observed for Shannon-Weiner index. The densities of fungivores, predators-omnivores and plant-parasitic fluctuated from SEB to CTC (P < 0.05), and differed significantly between the two sampling months (P < 0.05). As a whole, the densities of the four trophic groups were higher in September than in December. The basic index and channel index decreased significantly (P < 0.05), while the maturity index increased significantly (P < 0.05) from SEB to CTC. The channel index of the nematodes for all climatic zones was smaller than 50, indicating that the detrital food webs on the eastern slope of the Gongga Mountain were dominated by bacterial decomposition channels. The plant-parasite index changed with no obvious tendency among the climatic zones (P > 0.05), while it was significantly higher in September than in December (P < 0.05), suggesting a more mature ecosystem in September than in December. The regression analysis showed that the densities of community, predators-omnivores and plant parasitic, basic index and maturity index significantly correlated with soil available nitrogen, total potassium and soil temperature. The results of this research indicated that climatic type change exerts greater effects on soil nematode community structure and ecological index than on the individual density and diversity index. Soil available nitrogen, total potassium and soil temperature are the main influencing factors.