Mangroves are important intertidal wetland ecosystems distributed along tropical and subtropical coastlines, providing key ecological functions such as water purification and the nursery of fishery resources. However, mangrove restoration and plantation occupy coastal aquaculture pond lands, thereby triggering conflicts between ecological protection and industrial development. The mangrove-aquaculture ecological coupling mode (Hereinafter referred to as the planting-breeding coupling mode) provides a feasible pathway for coordinating mangrove ecological protection and coastal aquaculture development. This paper analyzes the ecological basis of the planting–breeding coupling mode, summarizes the research and practical progress of Integrated Mangrove Aquaculture (IMA), including Integrated Mangrove–Shrimp System (IMS) and Associated Mangrove–Aquaculture System (AMA), Ecological Mangrove Restoration (EMR), and China's planted mangrove-based coupling mode. We compared and analyzed the differences of the four modes in terms of mangrove restoration methods, aquaculture patterns, core objectives and application scales. We further put forward the key problems to be solved in the conceptual thinking, key technologies and policy management of China's planting-breeding coupling mode. This study aims to provide a reference for the research and application of the coupling mode, as well as for government departments to formulate policies for ecological protection and industrial development.

Against the backdrop of global mangrove decline, China has achieved a net increase in mangrove coverage through ecological protection and restoration projects such as pond-to-mangrove conversion. To investigate the ecological impacts of pond-to-mangrove conversion on microbial communities in sedimentary environments, we focused on the pond-to-mangrove restoration area in Kaozhou Bay, Huidong County, Guangdong Province in 2021. Using high-throughput sequencing, we compared the distribution, specialist species, and environmental driving mechanisms of sediment microbial communities among mangrove-planted areas, mudflat and former aquaculture habitats. The results indicate that Desulfobacterota, Chloroflexota, and Pseudomonadota were the dominant microbial phyla shared among all three habitats. Although short-term mangrove restoration did not significantly enhance microbial α-diversity (p>0.05), it significantly increased β-diversity (p<0.05). Similarly, the former aquaculture site exhibited considerable vertical spatial heterogeneity of microbial communities, largely influenced by residual organic matters such as leftover feed and feces. In contrast, the mudflat site showed relatively uniform microbial composition along the sediment profile. A total of 60, 19, and 50 specialist species were identified in the mangrove, mudflat, and former aquaculture sites, respectively, whose distributions were significantly correlated with NH₃-N concentrations (In mangrove and mudflat sites) and particulate organic matter (POC, PON, and C/N ratio in the former aquaculture site). The findings help deepen the understanding of subsurface ecological recovery mechanisms during mangrove wetland restoration and provide a scientific basis for interpreting the ecological effects of land-use change.