News Briefs
February 16, 2016
Roman Antoine Guidry
February 17, 2016
Although Houma native and Louisiana State University senior Ariel Bergeron is a good hour and a half drive from her roots, she’s established a second home on the Baton Rouge-based campus surrounded by a few thousand feathered friends. The community is one filled with tiny bobwhite quail, the focus of much of her time and attention and work that recently earned her a top honor for her creative endeavor.
Through what can only be described as fate, Bergeron ran into a familiar face during her freshman year at the university, setting her on a path to hands-on study many students never get an opportunity to experience. Although she began her college career with an intention to study veterinary medicine, it was a shared love of animal physiology that brought her and her advising professor, Dr. Theresia Lavergne, together.
“I used to do [4-H] poultry judging in high school and the poultry judge at LSU said, ‘You need to be on the collegiate team,’” the Terrebonne High School alum and Animal, Dairy and Poultry Science major said. “So I was at judging one day and I passed by her office and she was like, ‘Hey!’ Her and I met in high school. It’s really cool to see a familiar face at LSU because they always tell you prior to going to LSU that you’re going to be a number. She was like, ‘If you’re free, come stop by my office. I could possibly get you a research job…’ I stopped by her office and I worked with her for about a semester and I guess she saw my work ethic and asked me if I wanted to do my own research grant. I wrote my own research grant and from then on out, I’ve been doing research and I love it.”
On any given day, Bergeron splits her time between attending class and catering to her flock of bobwhite quail, a tiny yet stocky gamebird that populates much of the southeastern United States. She spends anywhere from 30 to 40 hours a week making sure the flock has enough food and water and monitoring how the changes she initiates in their diet affect their overall size.
Data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey indicates that quail populations in Louisiana have declined by about 75 percent since 1966, a statistic that Bergeron recognized could cause a potential uptick in the amount of quail that are commercially raised to compensate. This potential means researchers most figure out what it takes for these birds to be reared properly in controlled environments.
Because not much research previously existed on the nutritional requirements of quail, Bergeron structured her study around just that, conducting a series of trials focused on the quail’s diet at the LSU AgCenter poultry research facility. Bergeron specifically studies lysine levels present in the bird’s diet, an amino acid poultry rely on the break down food and build protein.
The study, which has spanned the majority of her college career, however, began by first identifying what parts and pieces had to be put together to make a proper environment for the tiny birds, something Lavergne said Bergeron led the charge on.
“Before we could [look at Lysine levels], we had to learn how to raise them properly within the research setting. We’re raising them on our research farm and that was my very first project,” Bergeron said. “I’m very lucky I’m still doing this research because it was very much a trial-and-tribulation time. Quail are very finicky animals and they get stressed out so I had to learn my own method.”
That included constructing rings to keep the birds safe and secure and putting red lights to keep the tiny animals, examined from birth through 28 days, warm.
From there, Bergeron varied the amount of lysine present in the quails’ corn and soy bean-based diet, checking in on the birds twice a day and weighing them once a week, a process she said takes three to five hours to complete.
Because the procedures and protocols she established are a first for the university, Lavergne said Bergeron’s strategies in raising birds of this kind at the research facility, which typically is a home for chickens, will be integral to continued, related studies at the university.
“I now have my own method of how to raise them properly and I’m leaving that here at LSU when I graduate in case they ever go back and raise quail again,” Bergeron said. “Now they know how to raise them properly within the research setting, which is pretty cool.”
“She’s started the beginnings of it,” Lavergne added. “Her research is something that we can use for years to come.”
Taking on such a significant role as an undergraduate student has been quite impactful, Bergeron said, one that not only impacted her scholastically but as a person as well.
“I always tell people it is very eye-opening to be able to have that much responsibility,” she explained. “Walking into it my freshman year, I didn’t understand all the responsibility that it entailed but it definitely taught me to be more of a patient person, it taught me how to deal with stressful situations. You can’t just jump to conclusions. You have to work through the situation to come to a conclusion at the end. Now I’m a big advocate for anyone that is offered undergraduate research. Don’t think that this is intimidating.”
Her dedication to this work is what earned her one of ten LSU Discover Scholar awards handed out last week during a celebratory breakfast with the university’s President F. King Alexander. These awards recognize students who exemplify the potential for undergraduate research and creative endeavors at LSU. Students are nominated by a faculty member and selected by a panel of judges.
“Overall, she’s an excellent student,” Lavergne, who nominated Bergeron for the honor, said. “She’s been working for me as a student worker and she has an excellent work ethic and wants to do her best at everything.”
For Bergeron, it’s a shiny new honor to add to a list of impressive collegiate accomplishments. She’s had two abstracts published and has presented her research twice at the Poultry Science Association Annual Meeting. She also earned two Certificates of Excellence from the association, the highest honor given to undergraduate and graduate students in the poultry science field.
After crossing the stage in May, Bergeron has her sight set on continuing her research journey by pursuing a master’s degree focusing on animal physiology and a Ph.D focusing on monogastric nutrition. Currently, she is weighing her options between West Virginia University and University of Arkansas, both of which have offered her assistantships to continue her research endeavors. The ultimate goal, Bergeron said, is to work in research development for a poultry company.
Despite where her studies take her, Bergeron said she credits her love of animal science to a lifelong exposure to creatures of every kind. If it weren’t for a childhood spent surrounded by the animals that call south Louisiana home, she may have never discovered her true passion of learning everything there is to know about why animals are so vital to the world.
“It’s amazing how small the world is and how you can make such close ties that could eventually make you into a successful person,” she said. •
