Landscape changes have driven the coordination of human-land relationships in coastal wetlands under ecological restoration in a short term

• Multi-temporal human-land relationships were quantitatively characterized in the Yellow River Delta. • Ecological conservation (+46.36 %) and agricultural production (+8.50 %) made positive contributions. • Pond development (−26.92%) and urban construction (−18.22%) negatively affected ecological health. • Human activity intensity and ecological health increased by 15.25% and 7.00% during 2017–2023. • Ecological restoration promoted human society development and improved the ecological health. Coordinated human-land relationships underlie the sustainable development of coastal wetlands. Under prevalent ecological restoration worldwide, quantitative spatiotemporal variations of human-land relationships in coastal wetlands remain to be unveiled, and effects of landscape changes on these relationships under ecological restoration in a short term are to be explored. Here we established eight anthropogenic and ecological indices to quantify and spatialize the large-scale and multi-temporal human-land relationships in the Yellow River Delta, an important coastal wetland in China, by integrating remote sensing and field data at 2017 and 2023, during which distinct landscape changes occurred under ecological restoration. Results indicated that four major human activities types, namely, ecological conservation, agricultural production, pond development, and urban construction, dominated the spatiotemporal patterns of ecological health in the Yellow River Delta, but the contributions of different human activity types were varying. Ecological conservation and agricultural production exerted positive effects while pond development and urban construction exhibited negative ones on the ecological health, and ecological conservation (+46.36 %), pond development (−26.92 %), urban construction (−18.22 %), and agricultural production (+8.50 %) were in the descending order of contributions. During 2017–2023, the opportune moments were the critical zone that turned from abatement to enhancement of ecological conservation, the removal of pond development, and the extreme improvement of urban construction based on reasonable spatial planning. The human activity intensity and ecological health have increased by 15.25 % and 7.00 % during 2017–2023, respectively, realizing the coexistence of enhancement in human activity intensity and improvement in ecological health in the context of extensive ecological restoration. The spatial optimization of ecological conservation, targeted tillage practice in agricultural production, gradual abandon of pond development, and ecosystem-based urban construction have driven the landscape changes, which promoted the development of human society and improved the ecological health, thereby efficiently coordinating the coastal wetland human-land relationships in a short term.