We consider the effects of non-constant star formation histories (SFHs) on H{alpha} and GALEX far-ultraviolet (FUV) star formation rate (SFR) indicators. Under the assumption of a fully populated Chabrier initial mass function (IMF), we compare the distribution of H{alpha}-to-FUV flux ratios from ~1500 simple, periodic model SFHs with observations of 185 galaxies from the Spitzer Local Volume Legacy survey. We find a set of SFH models that are well matched to the data, such that more massive galaxies are best characterized by nearly constant SFHs, while low-mass systems experience burst amplitudes of ~30 (i.e., an increase in the SFR by a factor of 30 over the SFR during the inter-burst period), burst durations of tens of Myr, and periods of ~250 Myr; these SFHs are broadly consistent with the increased stochastic star formation expected in systems with lower SFRs. We analyze the predicted temporal evolution of galaxy stellar mass, R-band surface brightness, H{alpha}-derived SFR, and blue luminosity, and find that they provide a reasonable match to observed flux distributions. We find that our model SFHs are generally able to reproduce both the observed systematic decline and increased scatter in H{alpha}-to-FUV ratios toward low-mass systems, without invoking other physical mechanisms.

Cone search capability for table J/ApJ/744/44/table1 (Basic properties of the Local Volume Legacy galaxies)