  In this paper, we investigated a density-dependent reaction-diffusion
equation, $u_t = (u^{m})_{xx} + u - u^{m}$. This equation is known as the
extension of the Fisher or Kolmogoroff-Petrovsky-Piscounoff equation which is
widely used in the population dynamics, combustion theory and plasma physics.
By employing the suitable transformation, this equation was mapped to the
anomalous diffusion equation where the nonlinear reaction term was eliminated.
Due to its simpler form, some exact self-similar solutions with the compact
support have been obtained. The solutions, evolving from an initial state,
converge to the usual traveling wave at a certain transition time. Hence, it is
quite clear the connection between the self-similar solution and the traveling
wave solution from these results. Moreover, the solutions were found in the
manner that either propagates to the right or propagates to the left.
Furthermore, the two solutions form a symmetric solution, expanding in both
directions. The application on the spatiotemporal pattern formation in
biological population has been mainly focused.
