  The star formation histories (SFHs) of dwarf galaxies are thought to be
\emph{bursty}, with large -- order of magnitude -- changes in the star
formation rate on timescales similar to O-star lifetimes. As a result, the
standard interpretations of many galaxy observables (which assume a slowly
varying SFH) are often incorrect. Here, we use the SFHs from hydro-dynamical
simulations to investigate the effects of bursty SFHs on sample selection and
interpretation of observables and make predictions to confirm such SFHs in
future surveys. First, because dwarf galaxies' star formation rates change
rapidly, the mass-to-light ratio is also changing rapidly in both the ionizing
continuum and, to a lesser extent, the non-ionizing UV continuum. Therefore,
flux limited surveys are highly biased toward selecting galaxies in the
\emph{burst} phase and very deep observations are required to detect all dwarf
galaxies at a given stellar mass. Second, we show that a $\log_{10}[\nu
L_{\nu}(1500{\rm \AA})/L_{{\rm H}\alpha}]>2.5$ implies a very recent quenching
of star formation and can be used as evidence of stellar feedback regulating
star formation. Third, we show that the ionizing continuum can be significantly
higher than when assuming a constant SFH, which can affect the interpretation
of nebular emission line equivalent widths and direct ionizing continuum
detections. Finally, we show that a star formation rate estimate based on
continuum measurements only (and not on nebular tracers such as the hydrogen
Balmer lines) will not trace the rapid changes in star formation and will give
the false impression of a star-forming main sequence with low dispersion.
