Are we seeing the whole picture in land-sea systems? Opportunities and challenges for operationalizing the ES concept

•Half of Latin American scientists are not addressing the land-sea systems as a whole.•Communication of scientists with stakeholders across environments is deficient.•Governance schemes are compartmentalized and do not align with ecological linkages.•Institutional instruments and intermediaries’ involvement foster holistic governance.•Boundary work and trade-offs modeling may mainstream ES concept to policy.