Maduo County in the Yellow River source area is a "purified land of the world". Carrying out quantitative research on land use change and ecosystem service functions can provide support for ensuring ecological security in the Yellow River Basin and the whole country. Taking the Maduo County of Source Region of the Yellow River as a research case, we counts the transfer matrix of land use types and the land use change, and measures the evolution characteristics of its ecosystem service value (ESV) in Maduo County from 2005 to 2015. The results showed that (1) the land use structure of Maduo County has changed significantly in past 10 years. The area of high coverage grassland and construction land increased by 38.30% and 3.85 times, respectively. The area of low-coverage grassland and forests decreased by 44.29% and 86.55%, respectively. (2) The single land use change of forests and low coverage grassland were -8.65% and -4.43%, respectively. The single land use change of high coverage grassland and medium coverage grassland were 3.83% and 2.83% respectively during the 10 years. Therefore, the evolution of land use type mainly presents the transfer from forests and low coverage grassland to high coverage grassland and medium coverage grassland. In the early stage (2005-2010), the woodland and low coverage grassland decreased rapidly. In the later stage (2010-2015), the construction land expanded rapidly. (3) The ESV in Maduo County was growing from 911.24×10⁸ yuan in 2005 to 938.87×10⁸ yuan in 2015. The single ESV of hydrology regulation contributed to 53.70%-55.24%. (3) The proportion of water area fluctuated between 8.21% and 8.31% in 10 years. Its ESV contribution accounted for about 50% of the total ecosystem service value. The ESV contribution of unutilized land and high coverage grassland were 16.85%-17.26% and 13.78%-18.50%,respectively. The ESV of low coverage grassland decreased by 44.29%.