  Recent observational studies of the age distribution of star clusters in
nearby merging galaxies and starburst (SB) galaxies indicate a premature death
of the young clusters. The fate of an evolving star cluster crucially depends
of its gas content. This behaves like a glue that helps to keep the star system
gravitationally bound. In SB systems where the rate of supernovae (SNe)
explosions is elevated one should expect an efficient heating of the gas and
its complete removal which could then favor the rapid dissociation of the
evolving star clusters. Based on a contemporaneous study of the dynamical
evolution of the interstellar gas in SB environments (Melioli & de Gouveia Dal
Pino 2004) where it has been considered also the presence of dense clouds that
may inhibit the heating efficiency of the interstellar gas by the SNe, we have
here computed the timescales for gas removal from young clusters embedded in
these systems and found that they are consistent with the very short timescales
for cluster dissolution which are inferred from the observational studies
above. Our results indicate that typical SB proto-clusters should start to
disperse after less than 5 Myr. For a given total gas mass content, this result
is nearly insensitive to the initial star formation efficiency.
