Chinese marine materia medica (CMMM) is a vital part of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Compared with terrestrial TCM, CMMM, derived from specific marine habitats, possesses peculiar chemical components with unique structures reflecting as potent pharmacological activities, distinct drug properties and functions. Nowadays, CMMM appears to be especially effective in treating such difficult diseases as cancers, diabetes, cardio-cerebrovascular diseases, immunodeficiency diseases and senile dementia, and therefore has become an important medicinal resource for the research and development of new drugs. In recent years, such development has attracted wide attention in the field of medicine. In this study, the CMMM resources in China were systematically investigated and evaluated. It was found that the historic experiences of Chinese people using CMMM have continuously accumulated over a period of more than 3600 years, and that the achievements of the research on modern CMMM are especially outstanding. By June 2015, 725 kinds of CMMMs from Chinese coastal sea areas have been identified and recorded, covering 1552 organisms and minerals. More than 3100 traditional prescriptions containing CMMMs have been imparted and inherited. However, the number of CMMMs is less than the 8188 terrestrial TCMs, from more than 12,100 medicinal terrestrial plants, animals and minerals. In the future, the research and development of CMMM should focus on the channel entries (TCM drug properties), compatibility, effective ingredients, acting mechanisms, drug metabolism and quality standard. This study reveals the high potential of CMMM development.

Mangrove is a typical natural landscape with great ecological, social and economic functions and values, and should be highly valued and protected. However, in the past few decades, mangrove resources have suffered serious damage, and there are also many deficiencies in mangrove protection. Chinese mangroves, as an important part of the global mangroves, are of great research value. In the present study, the status and historical dynamic process of Chinese mangrove resources were investigated and discussed to illustrate the problems of resources from three aspects, including mangrove distribution, area and plant species. Based on field research, literature research and data analysis, it was revealed that Chinese mangroves are distributed in eight provinces and regions along the southeast coast with an area of 35,749.25 hm², 38 species and 40 nature reserves. The protection situation and deficiencies were analyzed from the establishment and management of nature reserves. Based on the resource status and problems, reasonable strategies were proposed to protect and manage mangroves mainly from four aspects, including publicity and education, resources restoration and protection technology, legal system establishment, and comprehensive protection and management.

Based on the cooperation network formation theory, a Belt and Road trade cooperation network was constructed from the multi-distances perspective under the backdrop of the Belt and Road initiative. The geographic, factor endowment, cultural, and institutional distances were selected as variables from the aspects of geography, economy, culture, and politics to expand the gravity model. With this model, an empirical test was conducted using the data from China’s export trade flows to Belt and Road countries from 2007 to 2016. The results showed that a Belt and Road country had greater trade flows from China when it had smaller geographic, factor endowment, and cultural distance and greater institutional distance from China. Based on the empirical results, we improved the comprehensive index method to measure the comprehensive distance indices between China and the Belt and Road countries. According to the comprehensive distance indices, these countries could be divided into four cooperation circles, in which the prioritized countries in the different phases were identified. Subsequently, the cooperation network construction was designed in four stages to gradually build an all-round, multi-level, and all-encompassing trade cooperation network between China and the Belt and Road countries. Eventually, based on the above consideration, policy suggestions are provided for the construction of such a network.

Green port research integrates numerous theoretical and empirical studies of topics of important concern over the years, involving comprehensive scientific analyses. Learning about the global evolution of research on green ports can improve the understanding and evaluation of green ports by scholars and practitioners. In this paper, a total of 1051 papers from the Web of Science core collection for the period during 1992–2021 are collected as sample data. Based on the database, an analysis is conducted with CiteSpace software to map the knowledge regarding the field of green ports and explore the current research trends; the cooperation networks among countries (regions), institutions, and authors; and the evolution and mutation of keywords. The results indicate that the overall number of green port papers has increased over time. The countries with the highest numbers of papers published and the greatest influence are China and the United States, respectively. Additionally, the cooperative networks among authors, institutions, and countries are not mature enough and need to be strengthened further. Existing studies focus on the environmental impacts, evaluation, and construction of green ports. Recent trends indicate that researchers have become increasingly focused on reducing emissions, optimizing operations, evaluating policies, and identifying post-pandemic health issues associated with green ports. This study contributes to knowledge by assessing the state of the most significant studies published in the field of green port research, and the results contribute to a better understanding of green port research, which can further provide directions for the sustainable development of green ports.

Three novel monomeric naphtho-γ-pyrones, peninaphones A–C (compounds 1–3), along with two known bis-naphtho-γ-pyrones (compounds 4 and 5) were isolated from mangrove rhizosphere soil-derived fungus Penicillium sp. HK1-22. The absolute configurations of compounds 1 and 2 were determined by electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra, and the structure of compound 3 was confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Compounds 4 and 5 are a pair of hindered rotation isomers. A hypothetical biosynthetic pathway for the isolated monomeric and dimeric naphtho-γ-pyrones is also discussed in this study. Compounds 1–3 showed antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 43300, 33591, 29213, and 25923) with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values in the range of 12.5–50 μg/mL. Compound 3 exhibited significant activity against the rice sheath blight pathogen Rhizoctonia solani.

With the development of marine economy and climate changing, the ecological value of mangrove ecosystem has become increasingly prominent. In this study, the ecological values of China’s mangrove ecosystem services was evaluated based on the four services and nine functions of mangrove ecosystem. On this basis, the dynamic changing characteristics of the nine mangrove ecological values from 2001 to 2019 were analyzed. The results indicated that the top four service values were that of preventing coastal erosion, raw material supply, regulating water resources, and regulating climate and maintaining air quality. Significant changes were found in China’s mangrove areas which increased during 2001–2013 and decreased during 2013–2019, while the unit area value of mangrove ecosystem services generally showed an upward trend. Subsequently, the evaluation results were applied to mangrove asset management with balance sheets, ecological compensation standard determination, and carbon trading in blue carbon sink. Based on the above analysis, the corresponding countermeasures and suggestions were proposed for mangrove protection and value application to guide effective management on mangroves and further to realize a higher ecological value of mangrove ecosystem.