Abstract: Runoff is an important driving factor for water volume changes in Dongting Lake and other lakes in middle-lower Yangtze River, while Land use and cover change (LUCC) strongly changes the hydrological process of the basin by changing the characteristics of the underlying surface, which further affects the change of lake water volume. However, due to the complex interaction of multiple factors such as climate change, the influence and contribution characteristics of LUCC on the relationship between “runoff-lake water volume” still have some strong uncertainties, which has become the key theoretical issue for water resources planning and management in the basin. Therefore, in order to solve the above problems, the paper uses the 2001-2019 MODIS remote sensing data products and the SWAT hydrological model to systematically analyze the influence characteristics of LUCC in the Dongting Lake Basin on “runoff-lake water volume”. The results show：(1) The multi-year average runoff and lake water volume in the Dongting Lake Basin are 237.1 billion m3 and 68.2 billion m3, respectively. Seasonally, they show a unimodal distribution with a higher level in May-September and a smaller one in October-April. The change trend of runoff was gentle （y =14.926x+2 222.1，R² = 0.043 9，p<0.01）, while the water volume showed a slowly downward trend （y = -4.147 3x + 723.880，R² = 0.066 7，p<0.01）;(2) There is a significant positive correlation between the water volume in Dongting Lake and the watershed runoff. On an annual scale, the relationship between the two can be expressed as y=0.173x+272.11（R²=0.588 5，p<0.01）; On the monthly scale, it can be expressed as y=0.249 4x+7.257 4（R²=0.565 7，p<0.01）, which is more significant than the annual scale; (3) LUCC has a strong impact on the relationship between “runoff-lake water volume”. The multi-year average annual runoff caused by LUCC increases by nearly 36.4 billion m³, accounting for 15.4% of the annual average runoff, and the lake water volume has increased by about 6.3 billion m3，accounting for 9.2% of the average water storage. The research results help to correctly understand and grasp the internal influence mechanism of water volume changes in Dongting Lake and other river-connected lakes, so as to provide scientific auxiliary support for the water resources protection, governance and planning in the basin.