The effects of heat shocks upon the resistance and recovery (resilience) of enzyme activities were evaluated, in parallel with effects on the dynamics of microbial community structure. Mineral soil samples from a tropical forest (FS) and an adjacent agricultural site (AG) were submitted to heat shock treatments by incubating the soils at 40, 50, 60 or 70oC for a period of 15 minutes. The hydrolysis of fluorescein diacetate (FDA), and the activities of cellulase and laccase enzymes were monitored by taking destructive samples at 3, 10, 30 and 90 days after the stress treatment and re-incubation at 25oC. Changes in microbial structure were tracked by analyzing soil PLFA profiles at 3, 10 and 30 days after the heat shocks. Each of the three enzyme activities showed a decrease in activity proportional to the temperature level, which tended to return to the control level over time in both soils. The resistance of the cellulase and FDA activity were similar for both soils but its resilience was higher in FS site (p<0.05). The laccase activity, though, appeared to be more sensitive and less resilient in the FS soil (p<0.01 and p<0.001, respectively). The microbial biomass (PLFA-biomass) from the FS soil showed less resistance to the heat treatments than the AG soil (p<0.01), whereas resilience showed the opposite pattern (p<0.001). Heat shock also led to shifts in the structure of the microbial community in both soils. These changes were especially clear for the high temperature treatments (60 and 70oC) in the FS soil, which did not show resilience and diverged from the control soils with time. The discrepancy between the resilience of enzyme activity and microbial structure indicate that soil functioning is well-buffered even when large changes are observed in the microbial composition in response to severe stresses.