Sustainable acquisition of ecosystem services, their economic gains, and management of supporting resources in the context of global change are concerns that must be analyzed in the context of networks of hierarchies in complex social-ecological systems (SES). In particular, regional scale analysis is critical in order to focus on real acquired data and integrative social-ecological measures, and on specific trade-offs and compromises that depend on local ecosystem and land use characteristics within a specific cultural context. The session goal is to assess ways in which research can be structured to best provide 1) scientific results on complex ecosystem and landscape processes, 2) information to advise stakeholders about sustainable long-term investments, 3) the means for linking scientific evaluations with regional agency management efforts, and 4) insight with respect to stewardship, adaptive governance and sustainability at regional scale.