Abstract: Ecological thresholds in the estuarine and coastal ecosystem are the values of environmental variables that promote the abrupt transition of the ecosystem from a relatively stable dynamic equilibrium state and are of great significance for studying the evolution of estuarine and coastal ecosystem and carrying out regional ecological restoration. In this paper, the thresholds of some typical ecological mechanism transformation events such as salt marshes, sea-grass beds, coral reefs, kelp beds, and so on are reviewed and the application and management of ecological thresholds in the estuarine and coastal ecosystem at home and abroad are introduced. Combined with the current needs of environmental management in China, some thoughts and suggestions on the role of ecological threshold in the environmental management are put forward and the choice of threshold factors can reflect both the natural features of the estuarine and coast and some aspects of the human activities. In the context of climate warming, the aim of the ecological thresholds should focus on the integrity of the system. It is necessary to strengthen the studies both on the impact of spatial scale and climate changes on the ecological thresholds and on the coupling and mechanism process of natural sea and land conditions and socio-economic conditions.