  Recent studies of the near-infrared (NIR) properties of dwarf irregular
galaxies (dIs) and blue compact dwarfs (BCDs) have provided improved estimates
for the NIR luminosity of old stellar populations in these galaxies. These can
be used to derive gas fractions, and thereby to evaluate how BCDs have evolved
with respect to dIs. Oxygen abundances have been derived for four BCDs in the
Virgo Cluster from a run at Gemini-North in 2003. Combining these new
abundances with published values, we study the correlations among the
metallicity, Ks luminosity, gas mass, baryonic mass, and gas fraction. Within
errors, the two types of dwarfs appear to share a common relation between the
oxygen abundance and the luminosity in Ks. The correlation between metallicity
and the gas fraction is the same for BCDs as for dIs, indicating that BCD
evolution has been similar to dIs. Since dIs appear to have evolved as isolated
systems, the BCD bursts are unlikely to be a consequence of gas infall or
merging.
