Star clusters as tracers of galaxy evolution
  Star clusters represent the most common 'mode' of star formation. They are
found in all types of environments, cascading down from galaxy groups and
merging pairs through starbursts to normal galaxies and dwarves and even
isolated regions in extragalactic space. As they maintain a link to the overall
star formation in a system, they can be used as tracers of the star formation
history of environments located at distances prohibitive to the study of
individual stars. This makes them ideally suited to the study of mergers and
interactions in galaxy pairs and groups. In this work we present observations
of the star cluster populations in the local starburst galaxy M82,
post-interaction spiral NGC 6872, the "Antennae" merging pair and two compact
groups, "Stephan's Quintet" and HCG 7. In each case, we extract information on
the clusters and their hosts using mainly HST photometry and Gemini
spectroscopy.
