Under the stairs - Can I remove timber studs?

[Olympus]

I am opening up the area under a staircase. My problem is that I don't know whether it is safe to remove the timber studs at the side of the stairs.

I think the studs are there just to hold the drywall (plasterboard) and are not supporting the stairs themselves. The timber studs are approx 3"x2".

Do studs generally support the staircase? Is it safe to remove them? Is there some way of telling?

Thanks guys!

[geo32]

a straight flight of stairs rest on the trimmer at the very top of ur stairs this is located at the very last step of ur stairs. if ur stairs has a landing in the middle then turns back on itself, then u'll have a dwarf supporting wall underneath it.

if the wall u r talking about it directly below the string of ur stairs (the 250mm/300mm *32mm wide wood at the side) then it should be ok to remove it.