It also spreads by layering and sprouting from the roots. Sprouts may comprise half or more of the stems in a given population on some sites.

Seeds lose viability over time. In the lab, seed viability was >50% for seeds <6 weeks old but dropped to nearly 0% after 28 weeks. Another study found seed viability was 0% after 1 year.

Most fruit clusters drop under or near the parent tree. Seeds that break away from clusters still on the tree are most likely wind dispersed, and water disperses some seeds during floods.

Arizona sycamore pioneers on sandbars and gravel bars, and establishment is best on open sites, with saplings more common away from tree canopies.

While it is a disturbance-dependent pioneer species, it can establish beneath its own canopy. However, establishment is best on open sites, and saplings are more common away from tree canopies.

It is a disturbance-dependent pioneer that pioneers on sandbars and gravel bars, and its abundance tends to decrease in the absence of flooding or other disturbances.

It sprouts from the root crown and bole after top-kill. One study found that all trees survived after a single fire: 43% survived as mature trees and 57% sprouted after top-kill. Severe fires in long-unburned woodlands may kill it.

No information was available on the effects of fire on its seeds, though seeds buried in soil may survive fire.

It often pioneers on sandbars and gravel bars after flooding. It can also establish in early postfire environments, although the evidence is limited.

Arizona sycamore is a disturbance-dependent pioneer, and its abundance tends to decrease in the absence of flooding or other disturbances. Fire might have been historically uncommon in some riparian areas, where flooding was the primary disturbance.

Fire management in southwestern riparian areas may include fuel reduction and prescribed fire treatments that promote native vegetation and reduce invasive species. However, one source recommends against burning in late-successional riparian woodlands because fire there can be difficult to manage and highly destructive.

Fire frequency likely varied: small riparian areas may have experienced infrequent fire, while wider, denser riparian zones may have burned more often.

Most fires were likely patchy and of low severity due to the patchiness of vegetation; however, mixed- and high-severity fires likely also occurred.

LANDFIRE classifies communities with Arizona sycamore in fire regime groups 1 (along larger rivers), 3, and 5 (in smaller stringers). However, these general models are not specific to riparian areas with Arizona sycamore.