Key message: Soil pH, EC, and salinity explain the leaf nutrient concentrations of Prosopis pallida despite the high amount of soil nutrients near the trees. Abstract: Dryland forests constantly face extreme abiotic conditions, and this affects plant growth and nutrition. We have determined the effects of soil chemical attributes and soil nutrients on the leaf nutrient concentrations of eight Prosopis pallida populations located along a climatic gradient in the North-Peruvian dryland forests. We analyzed the leaf chemical composition (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Cu, and Zn), as well as soil chemical attributes [texture, pH, salinity (electrical conductivity; EC), and the sodium adsorption ratio (SAR)] and soil nutrient concentrations (the same elements as in the leaves) at 2 m from the base of each tree. The soil and leaf nutrient concentrations were not associated with the climatic gradien...

Financial support was provided by the Peruvian program CONCYTEC (163-2018-FONDECYT-BM-IADT-SE) granted to Dr. Pablo Salazar. RV was supported by the Spanish MEC project DIVERBOS ( CGL2011- 30285-C02-02 ) and ECO-MEDIT ( CGL2014-53236-R ), the project Ecología funcional de los bosques andaluces y predicciones sobre sus cambios futuros (For-Change) (UCO-27943) by Junta de Andalucía (Spain) , the project Funcionalidad y servicios ecosistémicos de los bosques andaluces y normarroquíes: relaciones con la diversidad vegetal y edáfica ante el cambio climático by Junta de Andalucía (Spain), all co-funded with European FEDER funds. RMNC was supported by the ISOPINE (UCO-1265298), ESPECTRAMED (CGL2017-86161-R) and SilvAdapt RED2018 102719 T projects. GML was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, ME 5087/1-1).