Ecosystem engineers that create and maintain the physical environment epitomize the interconnectedness of the global crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. Ecosystem engineer species and their activities are impacted by changing hydrology, temperature, and extreme weather. But these same species also influence how climate change drivers affect ecosystems by buffering and amplifying climate conditions. These feedbacks have often been overlooked in freshwater ecosystems compared to terrestrial ecosystems. To understand how climate affects the ability of ecosystem engineers to support other species, we conducted a quantitative literature review. We found that temperature was studied 2.5x more often as a climate driver of ecosystem engineering potential in terrestrial ecosystems when compared to freshwater. In freshwater ecosystems, high flow was more studied than low flow or temperature; mammal and plant species were studied over 5x more than the next most common group insects; and most studies to date were from locations with climates projected to get wetter and warmer, leading to gaps in our knowledge about drier locations. Our findings highlight the need to better understand how positive interactions imparted by ecosystem engineer species may become more or less ecologically meaningful when beneficiaries experience stressors such as those related to climate change.