diff --git a/distributed/protocol/tests/test_arrow.py b/distributed/protocol/tests/test_arrow.py
index e86bfa6f..3d2c66af 100644
--- a/distributed/protocol/tests/test_arrow.py
+++ b/distributed/protocol/tests/test_arrow.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
-import pandas as pd
 import pytest
 
 pa = pytest.importorskip("pyarrow")
+pd = pytest.importorskip("pandas")
 
 import distributed
 from distributed.utils_test import gen_cluster
diff --git a/distributed/protocol/tests/test_collection.py b/distributed/protocol/tests/test_collection.py
index ddb8a44b..f9f5bf79 100644
--- a/distributed/protocol/tests/test_collection.py
+++ b/distributed/protocol/tests/test_collection.py
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 import pytest
 from distributed.protocol import serialize, deserialize
-import pandas as pd
-import numpy as np
 
+np = pytest.importorskip("numpy")
+pd = pytest.importorskip("pandas")
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("collection", [tuple, dict, list])
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
diff --git a/distributed/protocol/tests/test_collection_cuda.py b/distributed/protocol/tests/test_collection_cuda.py
index e2602795..19484a87 100644
--- a/distributed/protocol/tests/test_collection_cuda.py
+++ b/distributed/protocol/tests/test_collection_cuda.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ import pytest
 
 from distributed.protocol import serialize, deserialize
 from dask.dataframe.utils import assert_eq
-import pandas as pd
 
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("collection", [tuple, dict])
@@ -37,14 +36,14 @@ def test_serialize_cupy(collection, y, y_serializer):
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("collection", [tuple, dict])
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     "df2,df2_serializer",
-    [(pd.DataFrame({"C": [3, 4, 5], "D": [2.5, 3.5, 4.5]}), "cuda"), (None, "pickle")],
+    [({"C": [3, 4, 5], "D": [2.5, 3.5, 4.5]}, "cuda"), (None, "pickle")],
 )
 def test_serialize_pandas_pandas(collection, df2, df2_serializer):
     cudf = pytest.importorskip("cudf")
-
+    pd = pytest.importorskip("pandas")
     df1 = cudf.DataFrame({"A": [1, 2, None], "B": [1.0, 2.0, None]})
-    if df2 is not None:
-        df2 = cudf.from_pandas(df2)
+    if df2 is not None:        
+        df2 = cudf.from_pandas(pd.DataFrame(df2))
     if issubclass(collection, dict):
         header, frames = serialize(
             {"df1": df1, "df2": df2}, serializers=("cuda", "dask", "pickle")
diff --git a/distributed/protocol/tests/test_keras.py b/distributed/protocol/tests/test_keras.py
index da8cdf63..05f3c7ca 100644
--- a/distributed/protocol/tests/test_keras.py
+++ b/distributed/protocol/tests/test_keras.py
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
-import numpy as np
-from numpy.testing import assert_allclose
 import pytest
 
 keras = pytest.importorskip("keras")
+np = pytest.importorskip("numpy")
 
 from distributed.protocol import serialize, deserialize, dumps, loads, to_serialize
 
 
 def test_serialize_deserialize_model():
+    from numpy.testing import assert_allclose
     model = keras.models.Sequential()
     model.add(keras.layers.Dense(5, input_dim=3))
     model.add(keras.layers.Dense(2))
diff --git a/distributed/protocol/tests/test_numpy.py b/distributed/protocol/tests/test_numpy.py
index c52e4f5b..ebb709dd 100644
--- a/distributed/protocol/tests/test_numpy.py
+++ b/distributed/protocol/tests/test_numpy.py
@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
 from zlib import crc32
 
-import numpy as np
 import pytest
-
+np = pytest.importorskip("numpy")
 from distributed.protocol import (
     serialize,
     deserialize,
diff --git a/distributed/protocol/tests/test_pandas.py b/distributed/protocol/tests/test_pandas.py
index a8134d7e..6dd968eb 100644
--- a/distributed/protocol/tests/test_pandas.py
+++ b/distributed/protocol/tests/test_pandas.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-import numpy as np
-import pandas as pd
 import pytest
+pd = pytest.importorskip("pandas")
+np = pytest.importorskip("numpy")
 
 from dask.dataframe.utils import assert_eq
 
diff --git a/distributed/protocol/tests/test_serialize.py b/distributed/protocol/tests/test_serialize.py
index 735dffb5..6ff76eb6 100644
--- a/distributed/protocol/tests/test_serialize.py
+++ b/distributed/protocol/tests/test_serialize.py
@@ -3,10 +3,11 @@ import copy
 import pickle
 
 import msgpack
-import numpy as np
 import pytest
 from tlz import identity
 
+np = pytest.importorskip("numpy")
+
 from dask.utils_test import inc
 
 from distributed import wait
diff --git a/distributed/protocol/tests/test_sparse.py b/distributed/protocol/tests/test_sparse.py
index 89f9da09..a08be59b 100644
--- a/distributed/protocol/tests/test_sparse.py
+++ b/distributed/protocol/tests/test_sparse.py
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
-import numpy as np
-from numpy.testing import assert_allclose
 import pytest
 
+np = pytest.importorskip("numpy")
 sparse = pytest.importorskip("sparse")
 
+from numpy.testing import assert_allclose
+
 from distributed.protocol import deserialize, serialize
 
 
diff --git a/distributed/tests/test_actor.py b/distributed/tests/test_actor.py
index 7b91b3da..ee393d49 100644
--- a/distributed/tests/test_actor.py
+++ b/distributed/tests/test_actor.py
@@ -426,7 +426,7 @@ async def test_load_balance_map(c, s, *workers):
 @gen_cluster(client=True, nthreads=[("127.0.0.1", 1)] * 4, Worker=Nanny)
 async def bench_param_server(c, s, *workers):
     import dask.array as da
-    import numpy as np
+    np = pytest.importorskip("numpy")
 
     x = da.random.random((500000, 1000), chunks=(1000, 1000))
     x = x.persist()
diff --git a/distributed/tests/test_client.py b/distributed/tests/test_client.py
index 100b52ea..40716c40 100644
--- a/distributed/tests/test_client.py
+++ b/distributed/tests/test_client.py
@@ -5526,7 +5526,7 @@ async def test_client_active_bad_port():
 def test_turn_off_pickle(direct):
     @gen_cluster()
     async def test(s, a, b):
-        import numpy as np
+        np = pytest.importorskip("numpy")
 
         async with Client(
             s.address, asynchronous=True, serializers=["dask", "msgpack"]
@@ -5564,7 +5564,7 @@ def test_turn_off_pickle(direct):
 
 @gen_cluster()
 async def test_de_serialization(s, a, b):
-    import numpy as np
+    np = pytest.importorskip("numpy")
 
     c = await Client(
         s.address,
@@ -5585,7 +5585,7 @@ async def test_de_serialization(s, a, b):
 
 @gen_cluster()
 async def test_de_serialization_none(s, a, b):
-    import numpy as np
+    np = pytest.importorskip("numpy")
 
     c = await Client(s.address, asynchronous=True, deserializers=["msgpack"])
     try:
@@ -6424,7 +6424,7 @@ async def test_annotations_retries(c, s, a, b):
 async def test_annotations_blockwise_unpack(c, s, a, b):
     da = pytest.importorskip("dask.array")
     from dask.array.utils import assert_eq
-    import numpy as np
+    np = pytest.importorskip("numpy")
 
     # A flaky doubling function -- need extra args because it is called before
     # application to establish dtype/meta.
diff --git a/distributed/tests/test_collections.py b/distributed/tests/test_collections.py
index 022db408..8b3e6cd5 100644
--- a/distributed/tests/test_collections.py
+++ b/distributed/tests/test_collections.py
@@ -2,8 +2,8 @@ from distutils.version import LooseVersion
 
 import pytest
 
-pytest.importorskip("numpy")
-pytest.importorskip("pandas")
+np = pytest.importorskip("numpy")
+pd = pytest.importorskip("pandas")
 
 import dask
 import dask.dataframe as dd
@@ -11,8 +11,6 @@ import dask.bag as db
 from distributed.client import wait
 from distributed.utils_test import gen_cluster
 from distributed.utils_test import client, cluster_fixture, loop  # noqa F401
-import numpy as np
-import pandas as pd
 
 PANDAS_VERSION = LooseVersion(pd.__version__)
 PANDAS_GT_100 = PANDAS_VERSION >= LooseVersion("1.0.0")
diff --git a/distributed/tests/test_nanny.py b/distributed/tests/test_nanny.py
index 1993f11a..83c3de18 100644
--- a/distributed/tests/test_nanny.py
+++ b/distributed/tests/test_nanny.py
@@ -7,8 +7,6 @@ import random
 import sys
 import multiprocessing as mp
 
-import numpy as np
-
 import pytest
 from tlz import valmap, first
 from tornado.ioloop import IOLoop
@@ -202,6 +200,7 @@ async def test_random_seed(c, s, a, b):
         assert x != y
 
     await check_func(lambda a, b: random.randint(a, b))
+    np = pytest.importorskip("numpy")
     await check_func(lambda a, b: np.random.randint(a, b))
 
 
diff --git a/distributed/tests/test_pubsub.py b/distributed/tests/test_pubsub.py
index 8f8a3b73..09ab4dcd 100644
--- a/distributed/tests/test_pubsub.py
+++ b/distributed/tests/test_pubsub.py
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ async def test_speed(c, s, a, b):
             #     print(a, b, i)
         return n
 
-    import numpy as np
+    np = pytest.importorskip("numpy")
 
     x = np.random.random(1000)
 
diff --git a/distributed/tests/test_utils.py b/distributed/tests/test_utils.py
index 022e9925..ffda15a6 100644
--- a/distributed/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/distributed/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ import sys
 from time import sleep
 import traceback
 
-import numpy as np
 import pytest
 from tornado.ioloop import IOLoop
 
@@ -271,6 +270,7 @@ def test_ensure_bytes():
 
 
 def test_ensure_bytes_ndarray():
+    np = pytest.importorskip("numpy")
     result = ensure_bytes(np.arange(12))
     assert isinstance(result, bytes)
 
@@ -283,6 +283,7 @@ def test_ensure_bytes_pyarrow_buffer():
 
 
 def test_nbytes():
+    np = pytest.importorskip("numpy")
     def check(obj, expected):
         assert nbytes(obj) == expected
         assert nbytes(memoryview(obj)) == expected