  We explore mechanisms for the regulation of star formation in dwarf galaxies.
We concentrate primarily on a sample in the Virgo cluster, which has HI and
blue total photometry, for which we collected H$\alpha$ data at the Wise
Observatory. We find that dwarf galaxies do not show the tight correlation of
the surface brightness of H$\alpha$ (a star formation indicator) with the HI
surface density, or with the ratio of this density to a dynamical timescale, as
found for large disk or starburst galaxies. On the other hand, we find the
strongest correlation to be with the average blue surface brightness,
indicating the presence of a mechanism regulating the star formation by the
older (up to 1 Gyr) stellar population if present, or by the stellar population
already formed in the present burst.
