Water tables in high-latitude peatlands are expected to fall because of climate change, with signifificant consequences for carbon cycling in these ecosystems. At present, the understanding of how climate-induced changes will affect soil microbial communities and functions in peatlands still remains controversial. In this study, we compared the potential activities of soil oxidase and hydrolytic enzymes and microbial communities at different depths in a minerotrophic peatland, part of which had been drained for many years and part of which was natural. The results showed that the microbial communities and enzyme activities differed considerably between the drained peat and the natural peat, and that the degree of change varied by depth in the profifile. The soil oxidase activities and hydrolase activities (b-1,4- N-acetylglucosaminidase and acid phosphatase) in the oxic zone (0–10 cm) were higher in the drained peat than in the natural peat, but the b-1,4-glucosidase activities decreased in the oxic zone after drainage. Soil enzyme activities in the anoxic zone were lower in the drained peat than in the natural peat. This suggests that drainage disturbance in this peatland does not support enhanced oxidative enzyme activityas hypothesized by the ‘‘enzyme-latch’’ mechanism.The soil total phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) and bacterial, fungal, and actinomycetic PLFAs in the oxic zone were lower in the drained peat than in the natural peat. The total PLFAs and bacterial PLFAs were higher in the transitional zone of the drained peat than the natural peat, but remained similar in the anoxic zone of the drained and natural peat. The fungi/ bacteria and gram-positive/gram-negative ratios were