Abstract: Understanding the spatiotemporal variation of ecosystem services and their drivers is important for the ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin. Based on InVEST model, we analyzed five ecosystem services in the Yellow River Basin from 1990 to 2019, i.e. water yield, water purification, carbon storage, soil conservation and habitat quality. GeoDetector model was used to explore the driving forces. Results showed that: (1) During the study period, water yield and soil conservation fluctuated with an overall rising trend, while water purification, carbon storage, and habitat quality were generally stable. Spatially, water yield was higher in the south and lower in the north, and soil conservation was higher in the hinterland and lower in the north and the two ends. The spatial distributions of water purification, carbon storage, and habitat quality services were relatively similar, which was lower in the Hetao Plain, Ningxia Plain, Fenwei Plain, and Henan-Shandong basin. (2) All the five ecosystem services showed significant global autocorrelation and spatial heterogeneity. In terms of local heterogeneity, water yield, water purification, and habitat quality obviously displayed three cluster types: high-high, low-low, and insignificant clustering, while other two services showed no local clustering. (3) Climatic and geographical factors were the main drivers of water yield and soil conservation changes, among which annual preci-pitation and slope were the most important. Land use and land cover (LULC) was the key factor affecting water purification, carbon storage, and habitat quality.

Key words: Yellow River Basin, ecosystem services, driving force, InVEST model, GeoDetector model.