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.
A person who practices or studies arboriculture can be termed an 'arborist' or an 'arboriculturist'. A 'tree surgeon' is more typically someone who is trained in the physical maintenance and manipulation of trees and therefore more a part of the arboriculture process rather than an arborist.
Risk management, legal issues, and aesthetic considerations have come to play prominent roles in the practice of arboriculture. Businesses often need to hire arboriculturists to complete tree hazard surveys and generally manage the trees on-site to fulfill Occupational safety and health obligations.
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 falls under the general umbrella of horticulture.
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- Harris, Richard W. (1983). Arboriculture: Care of Trees, Shrubs, and Vines in the Landscape. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 07632: Prentice-Hall, Inc. pp. 2–3. ISBN 0-13-043935-5.
- "arboriculture". Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition. Merriam-Webster.
- "arboriculture". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 2007.
- "arboriculture". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Online. Houghton Mifflin Company. 2000.
|Wikisource has the text of the 1905 New International Encyclopedia article Arboriculture.|
- Arboricultural Association UK
- International Society of Arboriculture (USA)
- European Arboricultural Council
- BatsandTrees.com Promoting the importance of British trees to bats
- Institute of Chartered Foresters The UK based Chartered body for forestry and arboricultural professionals
- American Forests Urban forestry resources
- Encyclopædia Britannica
- "Arboriculture". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920.