[Objective] The aims of this study are to explore the distribution characteristics and spatiotemporal evolution of habitat quality patterns under land use change, and to provide decision-making reference for promoting regional ecological security and sustainable use of land resources. [Methods] Based on the land use data in 2000, 2010, and 2020, the InVEST model, spatial autocorrelation and hotspot analysis methods were used to evaluate habitat quality in southeastern Fujian, and to analyze its spatial-temporal evolution characteristics. [Results] Southeastern Fujian had a high vegetation cover of no less than 67%, but the construction land had encroached heavily on the non-construction land, mainly arable land, forest land and grassland, with an increase of 112.74%, which had intensified the degree of regional landscape fragmentation and made the landscape spatial pattern tend to be complex. The extreme and average values of habitat degradation index in southeastern Fujian increased by 23.44% and 43.94%, respectively, the intensity of degradation continued to increase, the high value area of degradation spread from southeast coast to inland, and the degradation level showed the spatial pattern of circling evolution. The overall level of habitat quality was good, and the proportion of areas above medium grade was about 63%. However, the lower grade areas in the built-up areas of cities and the higher grade areas at the junctions of cities and towns were easy to shift to the lower grade and difficult to recover, the regional habitat quality decreased gradually, with an average decrease of 5.17%. The habitat quality distribution presented the obvious spatial aggregation characteristics. The cold spots of habitat quality, which concentrated in the southeast and centered on municipal districts, gradually spread to surrounding townships. The hot spots of habitat quality, which distributed in the northwest and depend on mountains and hills, slowly extended. Townships in the cold and hot spot areas of habitat quality increased by 11 and 6, respectively, so that the regional habitat quality differences between the east and west tended to expand. Changes in land use patterns, mainly manifested by explosive expansion of construction land, brought about by economic development, industrial restructuring and population growth, were the primary causes of habitat fragmentation, degradation and quality decline in southeastern Fujian. [Conclusion] In the past 20 years, the significant land use changes in Southeastern Fujian had a negative impact on the regional habitat quality. The region should focus on controlling the scale and speed of urban spatial expansion, and do a good job in ecological governance and restoration in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]