Freeze-thaw cycles are very common in temperate, high latitude and high altitude soils. Freeze-thaw cycles have been considered as one of the important factors contributing to increasing physical disruption of soil aggregates, and enhancing soil erosion and nutrients loss. Moreover, freezing and subsequently thawing of soil often results in an increase in soil solution nutrients, a flush of soil nitrogen release, and an initial flush of microbial respiration and some trace gases emission. However, so far most of studies on freeze-thaw cycles and their effects on soil ecosystem functioning have been conducted in the northern sub-polar ecosystem. Although subalpine and alpine forests distributed in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau have been thought as an important ecosystem in the research of regional impacts and responses of global changes, few works on the influences of soil freeze-thaw cycles have been reported. Some recommendations for further research on ecological effects of soil freeze-thaw cycles in the subalpine and alpine ecosystems of the western China, especially in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, the vastest expanse of highest altitude freezing soil of the world, were also presented in this paper.