The hard seeds can remain viable for considerable periods in either fresh, brackish or sea water. A. glabra can behave as a 'freshwater or brackish water mangrove' as it can survive root immersion at high tide and prolonged freshwater flooding.
Seedlings require ample soil moisture and sunlight to survive.
Fruits and seeds spread by water, pigs and birds. Fresh and brackish wetlands in tropical North, Central and South America and coastal West Africa. In north Queensland, Australia, it forms dense monotypic stands which displace native vegetation. A weed species in Viet nam. Fact sheet from the Department of Natural Resources, Queensland, Australia.