We present a comparison of the physical properties of a rest-frame 250 \mu m selected sample of massive , dusty galaxies from 0 < z < 5.3 .
Our sample comprises 29 high-redshift submillimetre galaxies ( SMGs ) from the literature , and 843 dusty galaxies at z < 0.5 from the Herschel -ATLAS , selected to have a similar stellar mass to the SMGs .
The z > 1 SMGs have an average SFR of 390 ^ { +80 } _ { -70 } M _ { \odot } yr ^ { -1 } which is 120 times that of the low-redshift sample matched in stellar mass to the SMGs ( SFR = 3.3 \pm { 0.2 } M _ { \odot } yr ^ { -1 } ) .
The SMGs harbour a substantial mass of dust ( 1.2 ^ { +0.3 } _ { -0.2 } \times { 10 } ^ { 9 } M _ { \odot } ) , compared to ( 1.6 \pm 0.1 ) \times { 10 } ^ { 8 } M _ { \odot } for low-redshift dusty galaxies .
At low redshifts the dust luminosity is dominated by the diffuse ISM , whereas a large fraction of the dust luminosity in SMGs originates from star-forming regions .
At the same dust mass SMGs are offset towards a higher SFR compared to the low-redshift H-ATLAS galaxies .
This is not only due to the higher gas fraction in SMGs but also because they are undergoing a more efficient mode of star formation , which is consistent with their bursty star-formation histories .
The offset in SFR between SMGs and low-redshift galaxies is similar to that found in CO studies , suggesting that dust mass is as good a tracer of molecular gas as CO .