With limited summer days left, it's time to start thinking ahead by getting ready for autumn leaves, harvest crops and fall insects.

As the seasons change, so do the pests that bug lawns and gardens. Some of the most common U.S. pests in the fall are ticks, chiggers, aphids, mountain pine beetles, slugs and snails.

To get a jumpstart on pest preparation, following are some tips on how to identify common yard and garden pests.

Ticks and chiggers. Generally thought of as insects, ticks are actually arachnids -- like spiders or mites -- due to body segments, including the number of pair of legs they possess, which is four according to David Glover, Extension director of the University of Tennessee.

There are two families of ticks: one with a hard body shell and one with a soft body shell. Both types can appear in a variety of colors: black, red, gray or brown.

Found mostly in wooded and forest regions throughout the world, ticks are especially populated in locations where water, animals or humans are nearby.

Chiggers are hairy, microscopic bugs. In their larval stage, chiggers have six legs and are orange, yellow or light red in color. As they mature into adults, they grow an extra set of legs and turn a brilliant shade of red.

Similar to ticks, chiggers can be found in forests, fields and moist habitats like swamps. Active from spring to late fall, most chiggers that bite are found on plants that are close to the ground because they need high amounts of humidity to survive.

Aphids. Also known as plant lice, aphids are small, plant-eating insects most commonly found in temperate zones. Aphids have antennas and can grow up to six body segments. Typically, aphids have soft green bodies, but other colors, such as black, brown and pink, also are common.

With about 4,400 different species around the world, aphids are serious pests of dense agriculture and forestry regions, as well as a nuisance to gardeners.

Moun- tain pine beetles. The mountain pine beetle is a species of bark beetle native to North American forests. As big as a single grain of rice, they are about five millimeters long and have a hard, black shell.

Mountain pine beetles inhabit pine trees by burrowing through the bark and feeding off the trunk. Attacks are mostly limited to trees under stress during the early stages of an outbreak, but when bettle populations grow, larger trees fall victim to their infestation.

Slugs and snails. Best described as snails without shells, slugs are slimy, soft-bodied mollusks with eye stalks that look like antennas.

Generally brown or grayish, slugs produce a silvery trail of goo they leave behind as they move. Slugs feed on leaves and seedlings of plants and can be damaging creatures when allowed to roam in moist, shady gardens.

However, with slugs, damage is difficult to diagnose or measure because slugs hide during the day.

Snails are slugs with shells. In the adult stage, almost all members of the snail family possess coiled shells on top of their bodies. Found in a wide range of environments, snails can be found in deserts, ditches, even at the bottom of the sea; however, humans are most familiar with the land snail.

Because snails eat most living plants and decaying plants, they can do serious damage to lawns, gardens and farms.

When left untreated, slugs and snails are destructive creatures that can severely damage a yard or garden.

Bugs have a large impact on how people feel about the great outdoors -- especially when they attack a yard or garden. Since it is early in the season, there is still time to prepare and prevent and treat unwanted lawn insects before it's too late.

For information or recommendations for treatment, visit www.gardentech. com or www.central.com.