The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) obtained from satellite remote sensing can indicate the change characteristics of vegetation coverage and greenness. NDVI has been widely used in monitoring vegetation activity at large scale. The vegetation spatial and temporal variation characteristics in Shandong province was analyzed using the 328 tiles MODIS/NDVI images of 2000─2014 with the least square method and linear fitting of the time series at every pixel of image. The results are as followed: (1) Vegetation annual NDVI and spring NDVI in Shandong province increased significantly (P<0.01). The precipitation variation results in the increase of NDVI (P<0.05). But because of the increasing urbanization in Shandong province, the vegetation area in growing season decreased significantly with the reduction rate of 243 km~2 per year since 2000. (2) The change of NDVI showed obvious spatial difference. The change trends between farmland in west Shandong and wetland vegetation in Yellow River delta and Nansi Lake are opposite. The farmland vegetation has being improved and wetland vegetation has being degenerated gradually. The opposite trend was related to vegetation's different responses to annual precipitation variation in Shandong province. (3) Due to different vegetation's adaptabilities to different natural and human disturbance, they owned different stabilities. The stability rank of mainly vegetation types was: farmland > forest and shrub > wetland vegetation. This suggested that wetland vegetation's response to environmental changes was the most sensitive, and farmland vegetation owned the best anti-jamming capability. This study will play an important role in understanding the changes of vegetation coverage and estimating ecosystem's response to climate change in Shandong province.