Spatiotemporal patterns are
patterns that occur in a wide range of
natural phenoma and are characterized by a spatial and a temporal patterning. The general rules of
pattern formation hold. In contrast to "static", pure spatial patterns, the full complexity of spatiotemporal patterns can only be
recognized over time. Any kind of
traveling wave is a good example of a spatiotemporal pattern. Besides the shape and
amplitude of the wave (spatial part), its
time-varying position (and possibly shape) in space is an essential part of the entire pattern.
The distinction between spatial and spatio-temporal patterns in
nature is not clear-cut because a static, invariable pattern will never occur in the strict sense. Even
rock formation
A rock formation is an isolated, scenic, or spectacular surface rock outcrop. Rock formations are usually the result of weathering and erosion sculpting the existing rock. The term ''rock formation'' can also refer to specific sediment ...
s will slowly change on a time-scale of 10s of millions of years, therefore the distinction lies in the
time scale of change in relation to human
experience. Already the snapshot state of a
dune
A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...
will usually be taken as an example of a purely spatial pattern although this is clearly not the case. It is thus apt to say that spatiotemporal patterns in nature are the rule rather than the exception.
Physics
Many
hydrodynamical
In physics and engineering, fluid dynamics is a subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that describes the flow of fluids—liquids and gases. It has several subdisciplines, including ''aerodynamics'' (the study of air and other gases in motion) and ...
systems show s.t. pattern formation:
*
Rayleigh–Bénard convection
*
Taylor–Couette flow
*
Liquid crystal
Liquid crystal (LC) is a state of matter whose properties are between those of conventional liquids and those of solid crystals. For example, a liquid crystal may flow like a liquid, but its molecules may be oriented in a crystal-like way. T ...
instabilities
Chemistry
Any type of
reaction–diffusion system that produces spatial patterns will also, due to the time-dependency of both reactions and diffusion, produce spatiotemporal patterns.
Biology
Neurobiology
Neural networks, both
artificial and
natural, produce a virtually unbounded variety of s.t. patterns, both in
sensory perception, learning, thinking and reasoning as well as in
spontaneous activity. It has for example been demonstrated that
spiral waves, signatures of many
excitable systems can occur in
neocortical preparations.
Communication
All
communication,
language, relies on spatiotemporal
encoding of information, producing and
transmitting sound variations or any type of
signal i.e. single building blocks of information that are varied over time. -Even though
written language appears to exist only as a (2D) spatial
concatenation of letters -
string
String or strings may refer to:
*String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...
s, it must be decoded sequentially over time. Any kind of language that is understood by organisms is thus eventually a transcoding of neural s.t. signals and will - in successful communication - evoke similar patterns of neural activity in the recipient as they existed in the sender. For example, the
warning call of a bird when it perceives a predator will produce a similar type and degree of alarmedness (eventually a certain kind of neural activity pattern) in other individuals even though they have not yet seen or heard the potential attacker.
Even
artificial languages, e.g.
computer languages, are not read and
interpreted in one step, but sequentially, thus, their meaningfully arranged vocabulary (e.g. "
computer code") can be seen as a s.t. pattern.
Genetics
As a particular type of language, the "static" (neglecting random
transcription errors,
recombination and
mutation)
DNA and its
transcription pattern over time yields biologically essential s.t. patterns.
Gene regulatory networks are responsible for regulation the time course of
gene expression
Gene expression is the process by which information from a gene is used in the synthesis of a functional gene product that enables it to produce end products, protein or non-coding RNA, and ultimately affect a phenotype, as the final effect. The ...
level which can be analyzed using
expression profiling.
Literature
*
References
{{Reflist
Information theory
Pattern formation
Space and time