This data sets contains data on coarse wood density, moisture content, respiration rates and decomposition rate constants in csv format from Manaus Brazil measured from 1/1/1996 through 12/31/1997. The data for respiration reports CO2 flux from coarse litter (trunks and large branches > 10 cm diameter) that was studied in central Amazon forests (Chambers et al. 2001). The respiration study took place during the transition from wet to dry season of 1997 (June-August),and sampling from the decomposition study (Chambers et al. 2000) was carried out during both the dry and wet seasons of 1996-97 (see below). Respiration rates varied over almost two orders of magnitude (1.003-0.014 micro g C g-1 C min-1, n=61), and were significantly correlated with wood density (r2adj = 0.42), and moisture content (r2adj = 0.39). Additional samples taken from a nearby pasture indicated that wood moisture content was the most important factor controlling respiration rates across sites (r2adj = 0.65). Based on average coarse litter wood density and moisture content, the mean long-term carbon loss rate due to respiration was estimated to be 0.13 yr-1 (range of 95% prediction interval (PI) = 0.11-0.15 yr-1).Decomposition rate constants are reported as mass loss fraction per year, for boles of 155 large dead trees (> 10 cm diameter) in central Amazon forests (Chambers et al. 2000). The measurements were carried out over a 2-year period (1996-1997) on permanent plots monitored by the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project (BDFFP) of the Smithsonian Institution (Lovejoy and Bierregaard 1990; Rankin-De Merona et al. 1992) and the Biomass and Nutrient Experiment (BIONTE) of the National Institute for Amazon Research (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia-INPA). Mortality data from 21 hectares of permanent inventory plots, monitored for 10-15 years, were used to select dead trees for sampling. A single csv formatted data file includes dates when trees died, their diameter and breast height (DBH, i.e., at 1.3 m) and taxonomic information.Measured rate constants varied by over 1.5 orders of magnitude (0.015-0.67 /yr), averaged 0.19 /yr with predicted error averaging 0.026 /yr. Wood density and bole diameter were significantly and inversely correlated with rate constants. A tree of average biomass was predicted to decompose at 0.17 /yr.Understanding how tropical forest carbon balance will respond to global change requires knowledge of individual heterotrophic and autotrophic respiratory sources, together with factors that control respiratory variability. These data, along with estimates of ecosystem leaf, live wood and soil respiration, were used to estimate total carbon balance as described in Chambers et al (2004).