The science of arboriculture studies how these plants grow and respond to cultural practices and to their environment. The practice of arboriculture includes cultural techniques such as selection, planting, training,  fertilization , pest and  pathogen  control,  pruning , shaping, and removal.

Risk management , legal issues, and  aesthetic  considerations have come to play prominent roles in the practice of arboriculture.

Arboriculture is primarily focused on individual woody plants and trees maintained for permanent  landscape  and  amenity  purposes, usually in gardens, parks or other populated settings, by  arborists , for the enjoyment, protection, and benefit of human beings. It is therefore related to, but distinct from  agriculture , horticulture ,  urban forestry ,  forestry ,  dendrology , and  silviculture.