This study was carried out to analyze water cycle characteristics and evaluate water retention function in Jeju Gotjawal forest from 2013 to 2017. The average ratio of throughfall, stemflow, interception loss in Seonhul Gotjawal (SH) and Cheongsu Gotjawal (CS) was 43.1%, 15.8%, and 41.1%, respectively. Rainfall-throughfall, rainfall-stemflow, and rainfall-interception loss were expressed as linear regression equation (p<0.001). The comparison results showed that SH was higher than CS (p<0.05), indicating that the canopy area had an important effect on the difference in stand structure. The average water resources retention rate of the Gotjawal region was 41.9%, which is similar to the total water resources retention rate (40.6%) of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province (JSSGP). Currently, the development of Gotjawal is in progress in JSSGP. The development of Gotjawal will lead to a decrease in the water resources retention rate due to changes in the surface environment such as an increase in impervious areas, which will affect the total groundwater content of JSSGP. Therefore, the conservation of the Gotjawal area is judged to be very important from the point of view of water conservation.

Seaweeds are received high attending as one of new and renewable energy sources. In this study, the effects of organic loading rate (OLR) and hydraulic retention time (HRT) on anaerobic digestion with Laminaria japonica were investigated using labrotory-scale semi-continuous stirred type reactors. The results demonstrated that anaerobic digestion of Laminaria japonica performed stably with OLRs in the range of 1.00 ~ 1.50 g-VS/L⋅d and HRTs in the range of 27 ~ 40 days. The maximum methane production obtained was 251.33 mL-CH4/L⋅d, which was achieved for an OLR of 1.50 g-VS/L⋅d and a HRT of 27 days. However, an OLR of 1.75 g-VS/L⋅d and a HRT of 23 days brought about a decrease in the pH and volatile fatty acids (VFAs) accumulation, causing the destabilization of the reactor and process failure. The reactors operated at a constant influent substrate concentration, i.e., 40 g-VS/L, thus OLR and HRT could not be treated separately and independently. According to the limited results of this study, it seems that the suitable OLR of anaerobic digestion of Laminaria japonica was lower than 1.50 g-VS/L⋅d and suitable HRT was higher than 27 days.