We have conducted a near-infrared monitoring campaign at the UK InfraRed Telescope (UKIRT), of the Local Group galaxy M33. The main aim was to identify stars in the very nal stage of their evolution, and for which the luminosity is more directly related to the birth mass than the more numerous less-evolved giant stars that continue to increase in luminosity. The pulsating giant stars (AGB and red supergiants) are identified and their distributions are used to derive the star formation rate as a function of age. These stars are also important dust factories; we measure their dust production rates from a combination of our data with Spitzer Space Telescope mid-IR photometry. The mass-loss rates are seen to increase with increasing strength of pulsation and with increasing bolometric luminosity. Low-mass stars lose most of their mass through stellar winds, but even super-AGB stars and red superginats lose ~40% of their mass via a dusty stellar wind. We construct a 2-D map of the mass-return rate, showing a radial decline but also local enhancements due to agglomerations of massive stars. By comparing the current star formation rate with total mass input to the ISM, we conclude that the star formation in the central regions of M33 can only be sustained if gas is accreted from further out in the disc or from circum-galactic regions.

NGC147 and NGC185, paired satellites of the Andromeda galaxy, possess the same order of mass and analogous structures, but they show dierent star formation and different amounts of interstellar gas and dust. Therefore, we present the first reconstruction of the star formation history of NGC147 and NGC185. Asymptotic Giant Branch stars are highly evolved stars that are brightest in K-band. This maximum K-band magnitude is related to the birth mass of stars. As a result, we have found a 9.9 Gyrold single star formation epoch for NGC185 followed by relatively continuous star formation. NGC147, however, has passed through two star formation episodes; one is as old as ~6 Gyr and the other is as recent as 850 Myr. Asymptotic Giant Branch stars are also important dust factories; by fitting Spectral Energy Distributions to observed near and mid infrared data for each star, we were able to measure the dust production rates of individual stars; on order of 10-5M⊙yr-1. Hence, we estimate the total mass entering the interstellar medium to be 1.06 X 10-4M⊙ yr-1 and 2.89 X 10-4M⊙ yr-1 for NGC147 and NGC185.