As the authors of FRAGSTATS, we are aware of the potential for misuse of this program. Like most tools, FRAGSTATS is only as "good" as the user. FRAGSTATS crunches out a lot of numbers about the input landscape and it can do so very easily and quickly. These numbers can easily become "golden" in the hands of uninformed users. Unfortunately, the "garbage in- garbage out" axiom applies here. We have done our best in the documentation to stress the importance of defining the landscape at a scale and in a manner that is relevant and meaningful to the phenomenon under consideration. Moreover, we have stressed the importance of understanding the exact meaning of each metric before it is used. These and other important considerations in any landscape pattern analysis are discussed in the "background material" contained on this web site. We strongly urge you to read the entire documentation before ever running FRAGSTATS.