Abstract: The source area of the Yellow River plays a vital role in water yield and conservation within the Yellow River Basin, impacting socio-economic development along the river’s upper, middle, and lower reaches. This study employs the InVEST model to analyze the water yield and conservation capacity of the Yellow River source area from 2000 to 2020. The findings indicate an average annual water yield of 198.8×10⁸ m³ and a water conservation capacity of 35.3×10⁸ m³. Spatially, both water yield and conservation capacity exhibit similar patterns, gradually decreasing from east to west and south to north. Over the study period, both metrics display a significant increasing trend, with growth rates of 3.8 mm/a and 0.7 mm/a, respectively. Notably, the increase varies across regions, ranging from highly significant to no significant change as one moves from the southeast to the northwest. The land use types with the highest to lowest total water conservation capacities are grassland, cropland, wetland, forest, bareland, and urban land. Precipitation serves as the primary driver of water conservation changes, followed by evapotranspiration and land use. Furthermore, the study reveals that an increase in wetland area yields the greatest improvement in water conservation within the Yellow River source area, followed by grassland, while an increase in urban land area provides the least improvement.