Sentence Correction

Because they can reproduce several times each year and produce large numbers of offspring, many insect species can generally adapt quickly to changes in their environment.

A. Because they can reproduce several times each year and produce large numbers of offspring, many insect species
B. Because of many insect species' ability of reproducing several times a year, along with producing large numbers of offspring, thus they
C. Because they can reproduce yearly several times, along with producing offspring in large numbers, so many insect species
D. Due to their capability to reproduce several times yearly and to produce large numbers of offspring, many insect species
E. Due to their ability of reproducing several times yearly and to produce offspring of large numbers, many insect species

OA A

I was caught deciding between A and D, but eventually chose D. Where's the error in D? Is it incorrect to say "capability to reproduce several times yearly" and should be "capability of reproducing several times yearly"?

Sent wrote:Because they can reproduce several times each year and produce large numbers of offspring, many insect species can generally adapt quickly to changes in their environment.

A. Because they can reproduce several times each year and produce large numbers of offspring, many insect species
B. Because of many insect species' ability of reproducing several times a year, along with producing large numbers of offspring, thus they
C. Because they can reproduce yearly several times, along with producing offspring in large numbers, so many insect species
D. Due to their capability to reproduce several times yearly and to produce large numbers of offspring, many insect species
E. Due to their ability of reproducing several times yearly and to produce offspring of large numbers, many insect species

OA A

I was caught deciding between A and D, but eventually chose D. Where's the error in D? Is it incorrect to say "capability to reproduce several times yearly" and should be "capability of reproducing several times yearly"?

Always remember: whenever you have to chose between "because of" and "due to", replace "due to" by "caused by". If the sentence still makes sense, then it is correct else wrong. And yes, capability to is wrong here.

@GMATGuruNY Can you please help in eliminating option D here?

Thank You!

The construction "due to" is an adjective that takes a prepositional phrase; the word "due" is a noun-modifier
By contrast, the construction "because of" is a verb modifier. verb modifiers target the action of a clause and are much freer in their placement than are noun modifiers, "because of" correctly can be used anywhere in the clause and it can directly modify the action of the clause.

example : the game was cancelled(verb), due to rain - incorrect
the game was cancelled, because of rain - correct
the cancellation(noun) of the game was because of rain - incorrect as in this case cancellation is the noun
the cancellation (noun)of the game was due to rain -correct

verb is preferred over adjectives or nouns.
can is preferred over capability