Star formation in galaxies across a range of environments

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Nearby galaxies provide astronomers with the opportunity to study the interplay between the interstellar medium and star formation in a wider range of environments than can be accessed in our own Galaxy. Galaxy mass, star formation rate, morphology, metallicity, and their larger scale environment may all have an impact on the physical and chemical properties of the interstellar medium. Nearby galaxies also play an important role in allowing astronomers to probe the relationship between global galactic properties and interactions on parsec to kiloparsec scales. Understanding how local processes affect the global appearance of galaxies is crucial to a physical interpretation of more distant galaxies in the early universe, for which only globally-averaged quantities can be measured.