This data set reports the results of an experiment that tested the short-term effects of root mortality on the soil-atmosphere fluxes of nitrous oxide, nitric oxide, methane, and carbon dioxide in a tropical evergreen forest. Weekly trace gas fluxes are provided for treatment and control plots on sand and clay tropical forest soils in two comma separated ASCII files.The study site in the Tapajos National Forest (TNF) is near km 83 on the Santarem-Cuiaba Highway south of Santarem, Para, Brazil. Root mortality was induced by isolating blocks of land to 1 m depth using trenching and root exclusion screening. Gas fluxes were measured weekly for ten weeks following the trenching treatment and monthly for the remainder of the year. Monthly data are not included at this time.