Overgrazing and low temperature prevent plants sexual reproduction, and belowground bud banks play an important role in perennial plant communities. The purpose of the study is to explore the bud bank characteristics of alpine meadow with elevation changes. We studied the bud bank distribution, size and composition of alpine meadow at 3450 to 3950 m elevation using a unit soil excavation method on the eastern Zoige Plateau. Our results showed that the bud density at the low elevation was higher than that at the high elevation as a whole. The bud bank comprise tiller, long and short rhizome buds. Bud bank composition varied with elevation, tiller buds were the dominant ones, accounted for 35.47% to 65.28% of total buds. The tiller bud density was significant correlated with the elevation, and the proportion of tiller bud and short rhizome bud significant correlated with the elevation. Buds were mostly concentrated in 0-10 cm sod layer, accounted for 93.41% to 100% of total buds, and there were fewer buds distributed in 10-30 cm sod layer. The aboveground biomass of plants increased gradually with increasing elevation, and the belowground biomass decreased gradually as a whole. The aboveground biomass was extremely significant correlated with the tiller buds density. Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that sod layer properties affected bud bank composition. Total phosphorus, total nitrogen, available phosphorus content was the most important factor explaining and contributing to the variation of bud density. Studies have shown that plants in alpine meadows maintain a certain size of bud banks, which ensures the renewal and recovery of the plant community in the later stages. The distribution and composition of plant bud banks vary with increasing elevation, plants constantly alter the bud bank and adjust propagation strategy to cope with environmental changes and maintain the community stability.