It is an important premise for wetland management and protection to clarify the evolution characteristics of wetland pattern and its driving mechanism. Based on the remote sensing interpretation data of seven phases from 1980 to 2015, the evolution characteristics and driving mechanism of wetland pattern in Wuyuer-Shuangyang River Basin were quantitatively analyzed by spatial analysis, landscape index, transfer probability matrix, and boosted regression tree model in this study. The results are as follows: (1) from 1980 to 2015, the wetland area continuously decreased 738 km² by a reduction of 16.43% and the marsh accounted for more than 75% of the wetland with the continuous decrease. In 1990-1995, the wetland area reduction rate was the largest. (2) From 1980 to 2015, the landscape change trend of wetland was the dominant position of the largest patch decreased, the degree of fragmentation increased, the spatial distribution tended to be discrete, and the landscape connectivity weakened. The change characteristics of the marsh were similar to those of wetland, while the change characteristics of waters were different. (3) From 1980 to 2015, the wetland loss was mainly distributed on both sides of Wuyuer River, middle reaches of Shuangyang River, and the tail of the basin, which was mainly transformed into paddy field, dry land, grassland and saline-alkali land, with a total transfer probability of about 20%. (4) The climatic factors were the main factors leading to the loss of wetland, with 50% contribution rate. Precipitation was negatively correlated with wetland loss, and its impact was greater on wetland loss when annual precipitation was less than 450 mm. There was a positive correlation between temperature improvement and wetland loss, and its impact was greater on wetland loss when temperature improvement exceeded 1.4 ℃. The impact of road construction on wetland loss was within 1.8 km. The high altitude increased the risk of wetland loss. Wetlands within 2 km around cultivated land were easy to be reclaimed but the establishment of natural reserves effectively curbed the wetland loss. The areas with high risk of wetland loss in the future are the middle reaches of Wuyuer River, the middle and lower reaches of Shuangyang River and the tail of the basin.