Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) encompass not only valuable marine ecosystems but also the adjacent communities and their residents who are intricately linked to these MPAs, forming a coupled socio-ecological system. As a coupled system, MPAs can simultaneously deliver ecological and socio-economic benefits. How to actively adapt to the impacts of human activities and changes in the natural environment, and how to seek coordinated and sustainable development of the social, economic and ecological aspects of marine protected areas has become a common concern of the international community. Based on the resilience research framework, this paper constructs a social-ecological system resilience assessment model for marine protected areas from two dimensions: vulnerability and coping capacity. By integrating methods such as Set Pair Analysis (SPA), Coupling Coordination Degree (CCD) model, Obstacle Degree (OD) model, and correlation analysis, we analyze the evolution of socio-ecological resilience and its influencing mechanisms in the Changdao MPA, Shandong Province, China, from 2007 to 2022. Key findings include:(1) The socio-ecological resilience index of the Changdao MPA fluctuated and increased from 0.396 to 0.594 during 2007-2022. The vulnerability index showed a fluctuating decline, while the adaptive capacity index significantly rose. (2) The resilience of the study area's social, ecological, and economic subsystems exhibited a mutually reinforcing and coordinated development trend. The system's resilience transitioned from vulnerability-dominated to adaptability-led, achieving a benign coupling and coordinated development primarily through adaptability enhancement. (3) The primary indicators influencing the socio-ecological resilience of the Changdao MPA were registered unemployment rate, zooplankton diversity index, fishery production, population size, and proportion of environmental protection expenditures. Overall, the primary obstacle indicators shifted from social vulnerability, ecological vulnerability, and economic adaptive capacity to social adaptive capacity, ecological adaptive capacity, and economic vulnerability. (4) The influence factors exhibited significant differences in nature, rates, and patterns of impact on the resilience evolution of the Changdao MPA's socio-ecological system, manifesting in nearly linear and nonlinear relationships and six curve types: near linear increasing or decreasing, U-shaped or inverted U-shaped increasing or decreasing. Based on these findings, this study proposes strategies to enhance the socio-ecological resilience of MPAs. We hope that our study could provide a reference for rational policy formulation in China's marine conservation area management and offer a case support for the sustainable development of MPAs across social, economic, and ecological dimensions.
 

marine protected area,resilience,sustainable development,influencing factor,management strategy