Abstract: Objective Coastal cities are susceptible to both internal and external factors, making them difficult to recover under the frequent influence of human activities. These factors collectively contribute to the vulnerability of marine ecosystems, posing numerous challenges for the protection and construction of coastal cities in terms of ecology, culture, and environment. Among these challenges, the imbalance of ecological and cultural resources stands out prominently. This study aims to explore the construction of an ecology and marine culture composite landscape network, promoting the coupling and coordination between marine culture and the ecological environment, and optimizing the allocation of ecological and marine culturel landscape resources. This will not only protect important ecological resources and cultural habitats but also strengthen the connections between them. Methods Morphological spatial patterns and landscape connectivity assessments were utilized to identify ecological source areas in Quanzhou. The MCR model was employed to construct an integrated resistance surface for Quanzhou and identify potential ecological corridors. The gravity model was applied to evaluate the importance of these potential corridors and extract critical ones to establish the ecological network. Based on cultural protection units at various levels, nine types of cultural landscape core areas in Quanzhou were extracted using K-means clustering, considering the characteristics of cultural space layout, regional architecture, historical environment, and cultural customs. Utilizing the cultural resistance surface as the basis for resistance data, the Linkage Mapper tool in ArcGIS was employed to extract pathways. Cultural transmission among the cultural core areas was facilitated through transportation routes, including land and water transportation. Combining the cultural landscape information dissemination model, the spatial pattern of the cultural network in the study area was defined. The coupling of the ecological network and cultural network formed a composite landscape network pattern. An evaluation index system for the coupling degree of ecological and cultural functions was constructed, and the entropy weight method was used to calculate index weights and the coupling coordination degree. Functional evaluations and hierarchical optimizations of the composite landscape network were conducted. Results The MCR model identified 136 potential ecological corridors, totaling 4,381.139 km. Based on the evaluation results of the gravity model, these corridors were classified into first-class, second-class, and third-class corridors, forming the spatial pattern of the Quanzhou ecological network. Linkage Mapper identified 19 cultural corridors, totaling 888.001 km, and combined with the influence scope of core cultural landscape information points, the spatial pattern of the Quanzhou cultural network was constructed. The transmission range of cultural landscape information points ranged from 0.04 km to 15.19 km. The integration of the ecological and cultural networks resulted in a composite pattern of Quanzhou''s marine cultural and ecological landscape network. Considering the corridor radiation range, a 1000m buffer along the composite corridor network was taken as the evaluation object for each corridor. Using the coupling coordination degree calculation formula, the coupling coordination degree of 62 corridors was calculated and classified according to the coupling coordination degree standard, forming the evaluation results of Quanzhou''s ecology and marine cultural composite landscape network. The results indicated that 1 corridor was severely imbalanced, 16 were moderately imbalanced, 32 were basically balanced, 11 were moderately balanced, and 2 were in excellent balance. Conclusion The ecology and marine cultural composite landscape network effectively protects important ecological resources and cultural habitats while strengthening their interconnections. The regional comprehensive coupling coordination degree of the composite corridors revealed a gradual decrease as the distance from coastal and central urban areas increased. This is attributed to the better ecological conditions in the northern, western, and central regions, with a more extensive ecological network and evenly distributed cultural heritage sites. Although coastal and central urban areas have dense cultural heritage sites with higher cultural value and influence than inland areas, the severe fragmentation of ecological patches, lack of ecological source areas, and prominent ecological environmental issues in central urban areas lead to lower coupling and coordination degrees of the composite corridors. Therefore, optimization efforts should focus on repairing ecological issues in dysfunctional networks in coastal and central urban areas, transforming culturally-oriented networks into ecological-cultural networks. The regional corridor needs to focus on the integration of marine cultural themes and on the preservation and integrated improvement of ecological functions as the goal of the conservation and rehabilitation of the corridor along the dislocated coast, with a focus on areas that have been disturbed by human activities for many years, find out the focal point of its eco-environmental problems, especially the protection of regional corridors with important ecological functions and values. In inland areas with basically coordinated corridors, cultural value should be appropriately enhanced around ecological functions and regional characteristics. To protect and utilize the special biological resources, original style and cultural landscape of mountain and forest, to design the experience route of ecological tourism, and provide places of forest sightseeing, recreation and cultural tourism, nature education, etc. The construction and optimization strategy of Quanzhou''s ecology and marine cultural composite landscape network provide a basis for the integration, flow, efficient utilization, and overall protection of Quanzhou''s ecological and cultural resources. It also serves as a reference template for comprehensive coordinated protection of ecology and culture in coastal cities and integrated sustainable development.