title: Voyage of discovery? A comment on Koch et al. "A voyage to Terra Australis: human-mediated dispersal of cats".
abstract: The origins of feral cats in Australia may be understood with the help of molecular studies, but it is important that hypotheses be tested with appropriate sampling and methodology. We point out several shortcomings in the analysis by Koch et al. (BMC Evol Biol 15:262, 2015; A voyage to Terra Australis: human-mediated dispersal of cats. Dryad Digital Repository, 2015), present a reanalysis of part of the study and discuss the challenges of elucidating the early history of feral cats.
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental and Rural Science, The University of New England, Armidale, NSW, 2351, Australia. rose.andrew@une.edu.au.
authors.forename: Rose L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Andrew
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental and Rural Science, The University of New England, Armidale, NSW, 2351, Australia.
authors.forename: Deane
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental and Rural Science, The University of New England, Armidale, NSW, 2351, Australia.
authors.forename: Jamieson C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Gorrell
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental and Rural Science, The University of New England, Armidale, NSW, 2351, Australia.
authors.forename: Jasmine K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Janes
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild; D001315:Australia; D002415:Cats; D006801:Humans
keywords: Feral cat; Microsatellite; Migrate-N; Migration matrix; Structure