"Sledge Hammer" > wrote in message ...
> Has there been anything in terms of laboratory research about whether
> a sourdough starter, when moved to a different locale, eventually
> becomes dominated by the "local" microorganisms?
There is ongoing scholarly research, leading, I believe, to various
opinions. One opinion (I believe that Michael Gaenzle expressed it
recently) is that long-term sourdough cultures tend to drift towards the
microorganisms that have been identified (by T.F. Sugihara and coauthors
in 1971) with the so-called San Francisco culture. Rye sourdoughs are
very interesting to read about if German and Russian are among of your
languages.
> The logic of that happening seems fairly compelling to me, but people
> continue to sell "regional" cultures as if they can be propagated like
> plant cuttings.
Caveat emptor!
A serious reader might start at
http://samartha.net/SD/docs/DW-post1-4.html
See also
http://www.nyx.net/~dgreenw/sourdoughfaqs.html