Bergstrom travelled to Macquarie Island in 1983 for her Masters fieldwork, this made her one of the earliest female scientists to go south in the Australian Antarctic program for sustained field work.

Prior to working at the Antarctic Division, Bergstrom was a senior lecturer in ecology and botany at The University of Queensland.

"[10] Bergstrom has published extensively on Antarctic science and is well recognised for her highly influential work in the invasive species field,[11][12][13] for quantifying the effects of cat eradication on Macquarie Island[14][15] and for her abundant work on Antarctic and sub-Antarctic plant ecology and threats.

[5] She was on the design team for the Cargo and Biosecurity Centre at Hobart's Macquarie Wharf (Australia's gateway to the Antarctic).

[11][12][14] Bergstrom founded the 'Pure Antarctic Foundation',[18] a non-for-profit organisation with the overarching goal to bring Antarctica to the world, via an immersive cultural and scientific experience.