Ligularia virgaurea is a common poisonous weed in alpine meadows, which is considered to be an important species indicating grassland vegetation degradation in an area. It is of great significance to study the community distribution characteristics of rhizosphere soil microorganisms at different altitude gradients. As one of the main types of soil microdomain structure, rhizosphere has high biological enzyme activity and plays an important role in maintaining regional ecosystem cycle due to the influence of plant roots, environmental factors and microbial activities. Soil microorganisms are the most important biological driving force of soil nutrient cycling, organic degradation and other biological processes. A wide variety of soil microorganisms and a large number of characteristics also maintain the functional integrity of the ecosystem. At the same time, its biodiversity is also affected by soil enzyme activities and physical and chemical properties, so the study of soil microorganisms is also an effective means to maintain ecosystem services. In this study, the cultivable microorganisms in rhizosphere/non-rhizosphere soil of Ligularia virgaurea at different altitudes in Maqu County of Gannan Prefecture were studied. The number of soil microorganisms and changes in soil physical and chemical factors were measured by the spread plate method and the maximum possible number method (MPN). The results showed that bacteria accounted for the largest proportion of the total number of microorganisms. The number of rhizosphere microorganisms increased first and then decreased with elevation, while the non-rhizosphere showed an increasing trend. The microbial functional groups gradually increased in both rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere. The number of microorganisms and functional groups in rhizosphere soil was higher than that in non-rhizosphere soil. Redundancy analysis (RDA) shows that the quantity changes are significantly correlated with soil temperature, organic carbon, electrical conductivity, pH, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, available nitrogen, and soil urease. Path analysis shows that in rhizosphere soil, bacteria and fungi are most affected by available nitrogen and organic carbon. Actinomycetes are mainly affected by soil temperature and electrical conductivity. Rhizosphere soil azotobacter and ammonifier decision coefficient available nitrogen>organic carbon>total nitrogen. The influencing factors of nitrifier in rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soil are different. The largest and smallest decision coefficients of rhizosphere soil are total phosphorus and total nitrogen, and those of the non-rhizosphere are pH and urease. This study is helpful to understand the response mechanism of soil microorganisms in alpine meadows on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to the invasion of poisonous weeds, and to provide theoretical basis and technical support for ecological environment protection and high-quality development of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.