(CNN) The US Department of Agriculture will resume data collection for its annual Honey Bee Colonies report on October 1 -- the start of a new fiscal year -- after suspending the survey earlier this summer over budget constraints.

While researchers welcome the decision to resume the survey, some caution that it will leave a critical gap in this year's data.

Dennis vanEngelsdorp, an entomologist who studies bee health at the University of Maryland, explained that missing even one quarter of data can undermine researchers' ability to compare loss rates from year to year, one of the fundamental ways that experts and the honeybee industry can use the survey as they try to better understand honeybee population declines.

"It's like having a GDP report with one quarter's report missing," he told CNN.

Bees help pollinate a third of the crops we eat, including almonds, apples, avocados and grapes, but populations have been steadily declining since 2006. That's caused alarm not just in the US but in Europe as well. Pollinators like bees are under threat because of parasites like varroa mites, widespread pesticide use, habitat loss and the climate crisis.

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