[Objective] The spatial and temporal change of land use ecological risk along Yellow River was studied in order to provide theoretical basis for the protection of landscape resource, ecosystem optimization and the establishment of ecological environment protection and control measures.[Methods] Seven cities along the Yellow River in He'nan Province were taken as the research area. With the technical support of GIS and Fragstats software, based on the land use data in 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2018, the research areas were divided into 1 737 ecological evaluation units with area of 6 km×6 km. According to the ecological risk assessment model constructed by the landscape disturbance index and the landscape vulnerability index, the land use change, temporal and spatial changes of ecological risk and spatial correlation pattern in the study area were evaluated by land transfer matrix and spatial autocorrelation analysis method.[Results] ① From 2005 to 2018, the area of construction land within the study area increased rapidly, whilel other types of land area decreased in varying degrees. The increase of construction land was mainly from cultivated land, and woodland, grassland and waters were mainly converted into cultivated land. ② During the research period, the ecological risk of land use in the study area showed a significant positive correlation in space, with characteristics of spatial agglomeration. "High-high" and "low-low" were the main spatial agglomeration patterns of ecological risk. ③ From 2005 to 2018, the minimum and maximum values of ecological risk varied in "N" type roughly. The distribution areas of the high-risk areas were roughly the same over the four periods, with strip and block distributions. The strip high-risk areas were mainly distributed along the Yellow River, while the block high-risk areas were mainly distributed in plain areas with scattered rural settlements. Low and relative low risk areas were mostly distributed around the study area and the southwest area.[Conclusion] During the research period, the areas of low risk and medium risk area increased year by year. Relative low risk areas decreased firstly and then increased. While high risk area and relative high risk area decreased year by year. Each risk area was mainly transformed into adjacent risk area, only a small number of areas had cross-regional transfer, indicating that the ecological risk change of land use within the study area was relatively stable, and the area with rapid change was small.