Background: Sleep deprivation (SD), defined as the disruption or loss of normal sleep, negatively affects energy metabolism, immune function, and gut microbiota in both humans and animals. Although SD has detrimental effects, it is often unavoidable due to work or study demands. Exercise has been shown to improve sleep quality, regulate metabolism, and enhance immune function. However, whether exercise can mitigate the adverse effects of unavoidable SD remains unclear. Methods: To explore the protective effects of exercise against SD-induced gut microbiota and metabolic dysfunction, mice were randomly assigned to four groups: control (CTR), exercise (EXE), SD, and exercise + SD (EXE + SD). Inflammatory markers and gut microbiota composition were analyzed to assess the impacts of SD and exercise interventions. Results: The inflammatory levels and energy metabolism in SD mice were significantly increased compared to those in CTR mice. Compared with SD mice, EXE + SD mice had a more stable gut microbiota structure and higher butyrate levels. Meanwhile, the inflammatory response caused by SD was also inhibited by exercise preconditioning. Both lipopolysaccharide inhibitors injection and butyrate supplementation can partially alleviate the elevation of inflammatory response and energy metabolism caused by SD. Conclusion: The inflammation and energy metabolism disorders in mice caused by SD can be inhibited by exercise preconditioning through stabilizing the structure of gut microbiota. This protective effect is highly likely related to the increase in butyric acid levels caused by exercise.

Understanding how herbivores adjust their foraging strategies to cope with seasonal resource fluctuations has been central to the nutritional ecology. Optimal Foraging Theory (OFT) predicts that generalists should broaden their dietary niche when high-quality resources are scarce, but empirical evidence in extreme environments remains poorly understood. We used trnL-P6 metabarcoding of fecal samples (n = 10/season) and a local reference library of 120 plant species to quantify diet composition and niche metrics of free-ranging yaks (Bos grunniens) on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau in June (summer) and October (autumn) 2024. Yaks shifted from a diverse, forb-dominated diet (e.g., Polygonaceae, Rosaceae) in summer to a specialized diet dominated by grasses in autumn. Although dietary richness and total niche width (TNW) decreased in autumn, phylogenetic diversity remained stable, indicating a strategic shift to distinct evolutionary lineages to ensure functional redundancy. Furthermore, food network analyses demonstrated a transformation from a flexible, modular foraging pattern in summer to a highly integrated, synchronized network in autumn. These findings suggest that under the distinct quality–quantity trade-off of high-altitude ecosystems, yaks adopt an energy-maximization strategy by minimizing search costs, aligning with the opportunity cost constraints of OFT, rather than randomly expanding their niche. This insight into selective foraging dynamics is critical for developing sustainable grazing practices that accommodate the natural adaptive behaviors of alpine herbivores.