I find a definition in Oxford Dict online:
Engineering The inclusion of extra components which are not strictly necessary to functioning, in case of failure in other components:
a high degree of redundancy is built into the machinery installation
Is it sutable for the context below?
Context:
J Theor Biol. 1984 Oct 5;110(3):323-51.
Origin of sex.
Bernstein H, Byerly HC, Hopf FA, Michod RE.
Abstract
The competitive advantage of sex consists in being able to use
redundancy to recover lost genetic information while minimizing the cost of
redundancy. We show that the major selective forces acting early in evolution lead to RNA protocells in which each protocell contains one genome, since this maximizes the growth rate. However, damages to the RNA which block replication and failure of segregation make it advantageous to fuse periodically with another protocell to restore reproductive ability. This early, simple form of genetic recovery is similar to that occurring in extant segmented single stranded RNA viruses. As duplex DNA became the predominant form of the genetic material, the mechanism of genetic recovery evolved into the more complex process of recombinational repair, found today in a range of species. We thus conclude that sexual reproduction arose early in the evolution of life and has had a continuous evolutionary history. We cite reasons to reject arguments for gaps in the evolutionary sequence of sexual reproduction based on the presumed absence of sex in the cyanobacteria. Concerning the maintenance of the sexual cycle among current organisms, we take care to distinguish between the recombinational and outbreeding aspects of the sexual cycle. We argue that recombination, whether it be in outbreeding organisms, self-fertilizing organisms or automictic parthenogens, is maintained by the advantages of recombinational repair. We also discuss the role of DNA repair in maintaining the outbreeding aspects of the sexual cycle.
More:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6209512