  The evolution of star clusters is largely affected by the tidal field
generated by the host galaxy. It is thus in principle expected that under the
assumption of an "universal" initial cluster mass function the properties of
the evolved present-day mass function of star cluster systems should show a
dependency on the properties of the galactic environment in which they evolve.
To explore this expectation a sophisticated model of the tidal field is
required in order to study the evolution of star cluster systems in realistic
galaxies. Along these lines, in the present work we first describe a method
developed for coupling $N$-body simulations of galaxies and star clusters. We
then generate a database of galaxy models along the Hubble sequence and
calibrate evolutionary equations to the results of direct $N$-body simulations
of star clusters in order to predict the clusters' mass evolution as function
of the galactic environment. We finally apply our methods to explore the
properties of evolved "universal" initial cluster mass functions and any
dependence on the host galaxy morphology and mass distribution. The preliminary
results show that an initial power-law distribution of the masses "universally"
evolves into a log-normal distribution, with the properties correlated with the
stellar mass and stellar mass density density of the host galaxy.

Astrophysics of Galaxies