The soil arthropod in different abandoned lands was investigated by hand picking and Tullgren methods to discuss the effect of abandoned lands' vegetation change on soil arthropod in the karst region of South Guizhou.Results:465 soil arthropods (38 genera,37 families,12 orders and 4 classes) were captured in the tested abandoned lands.The dominant species in the abandoned forestland is Multioppia but the dominant species in the abandoned grassland is Phlaeothripidae and Chamobates.The vertical distribution of species and individual density of soil arthropod in the abandoned grassland is of an obvious surface accumulation.The species,individual density,Shannon-wiener diversity index and DG index of soil arthropod in the abandoned grassland are higher than in the abandoned forestland but there are no significant spatial differences (P>0.05).The proportion of omnivorous soil arthropod is the highest in different functional groups and the proportion of predatism soil arthropod is the lowest in different functional groups but there is no significant difference.The vegetation succession direction of abandoned lands in karst region influences community composition of soil arthropod obviously but has no obvious effect on diversity of soil arthropod during 10-year restoration period.